Mayor Bobby Warren – announcement
This afternoon, the city council unanimously voted to authorize the purchase of 4.2 acres of land from Champions Forest Baptist Church – Jersey Village. This property includes six buildings totaling over 54,000 square feet plus a covered, lighted outdoor recreation pavilion, located directly across Jersey Dr. from the fire department. The negotiated purchase price is $4.2 million.
Our plan is to move city hall into one of these buildings. While we are still exploring potential uses for the other buildings, I assure you that the community will be deeply involved in the decision-making process. We anticipate a lot of excitement about the opportunities this purchase presents.
It’s important to note that Champion Forest Baptist Church is not leaving Jersey Village; this transaction involves only a portion of their campus. We look forward to continuing our valued partnership with them for many years to come.
I have heard from numerous citizens who were concerned about the relocation of city hall across U.S. Highway 290 into the proposed Village Center development. After a thorough review of the project’s economics, the city council decided that the city’s best interests warranted discontinuing the pursuit of that project and placing the land on the open market instead.
We anticipate that the proceeds from the sale of the property south of 290 will be more than sufficient to cover the cost of purchasing the eastern portion of the Champion Forest Baptist Church campus and the anticipated renovations to the buildings.
Additionally, the city is evaluating the potential relocation of our public works operations to this newly purchased property. This move would bring public works closer to the rest of the municipal complex and allow us to sell the current public works property.
Upon executing the purchase agreement, the city will enter a 60-day due diligence period to thoroughly evaluate the campus buildings. This period will help us identify any major issues and better estimate the renovation costs. Assuming all goes well during this evaluation, the city will close the purchase at the end of the due diligence period.
There will be much more to discuss with our citizens as we move forward with this exciting development for our community, including various ways to utilize this property to serve the needs of our citizens effectively.
