Marysville City Council is expected to move forward with a plan to purchase the Eagles building in the city’s uptown.
At Monday night’s meeting, council will be asked to appropriate $542,000 to purchase the Fraternal Order of Eagles building, 227 S. Main Street.
“It has been a property we know has been for sale and available for some time,” City Manager Terry Emery said.
He said the current Eagles building, built in 1935 and remodeled in 1999, will be razed and a parking lot will be constructed.
Emery said a lack of parking in the city Uptown is one of the most universal complaints he hears.
“Parking in the Uptown is something people continue to express an interest in,” Emery said.
Even so, Emery said the future flexibility the property offers is equally, if not more valuable.
“We feel it is in our best interest to acquire that property for the future of city hall,” Emery said.
Emery said it is important to be proactive.
“As our community continues to grow, there potentially is going to be a need for us to expand services we have through city hall,” Emery said, noting that as nice as the facility is, “we are already seeing areas where we will need to expand city hall.”
He said it could be 10 years, it could be 40 years, but, “having control of that site is going to be important for many, many years to come.”
City officials said there were other groups interested in buying the site, but dropped out because of the “extreme work” that would need done to the building.
“The Town Run under there has some issues and needs some work done to it,” Emery said.
He stressed that Town Run deterioration under the building has caused some structural concerns. He said that while there is no immediate need to worry, “eventually there needs to be some work done.”
Emery said that by buying the site, the city is able to make needed improvements to preserve the Town Run.
“It is going to be in our best interest to tear down that building and do the work to Town Run in preparation for any other work we want to do,” Emery said.
He added, the city is “interested in maintaining the Town Run and keeping the flow and we will do the maintenance on the site.”
Currently, the city has an agreement with the First United Methodist Church, which allows the city to use the parking lot at the northeast corner of Seventh and Court streets, in exchange for the city plowing, paving, striping and performing general maintenance on the lot.
Law Director Tim Aslaner said there will be a similar arrangement in place where the city will renovate the church lot so it and the new lot have the same appearance and look like one big parking lot. The church will continue to own its portion, but allow the city to use it in exchange for the city maintaining it.
“It is going to be a nice, well maintained city parking lot that the public will be able to use,” Emery said.
He stressed that the lot will not be used for city or church vehicle storage, but rather to have additional public Uptown parking.
Emery said the exact configuration of the lot has not been determined, but he estimates it will accommodate about 90 vehicles. Currently, the Methodist Church lot has room for less than 60.
He said the alley that separates the block will be reconfigured so it does not interrupt the continuity of the parking lot.
Officials said there has been some interest in purchasing a pair of buildings on the south side of Seventh Street, but it is “not a priority.”
Aslaner said that while council will appropriate the money, it will likely be the Board of Control that finalizes the contract and purchase details.
Emery said he hopes to have the purchased finalized within the month.
“It is not something that is going to be drawn out and looking the same a year from now,” Emery said. “We are going to move forward quickly, we think.”
In 2019, Marysville Aerie 3506 of the Fraternal Order of Eagles purchased the Stocksdale Plaza, at 700 Milford Avenue, including the former Community Market grocery store along with a parking lot for $745,800.