BY MARK J. CRAWFORD
Starke city commissioners accepted a counteroffer to acquire a property downtown.
The city advertised for proposals to purchase property within a one and a half block area bordered on the north and south by Call Street and Madison Street and on the east and west by Church Street and the railroad crossing.
John and Elizabeth Jarmon offered 320 E. Call St. for $225,000. The city voted to move forward and conduct an environmental analysis of the property, then offered to purchase the lot for $175,000.
City Manager Drew Mullins delivered the counteroffer of $200,000 to commissioners March 12.
The vote was 3-1 to accept the offer, with Commissioner Janice Mortimer voting against the purchase once again. (Commissioner Shannon Smith, who previously voted against the purchase, was absent.)
Mullins’ presentation included some conceptual renderings from engineers at Woodward and Cullen for how the property could be used.
The concept preserves the storefront on Call Street while tearing down a wooden structure in the back. Inside there are public restrooms as well as a bar from which food and drinks could be served. Outside on a patio, picnic tables are shown with string lighting for illumination. Beyond that is space for parking food trucks or playing games. It is a beer garden aesthetic, and Mullins said it could serve as a rental space for events.
This is just a concept, however, as nothing about the property use has been decided. The interest in acquiring this and perhaps additional properties is to control what could happen, Mayor Scott Roberts has said.
“I think there’s a number of things that we could use it for,” Roberts said at a meeting last month. It has more potential than demolishing everything to create more parking, he said.
“I think it has a lot of potential. I think the upside is way more than the downside,” he said. “I rather that be in our control. It is an asset. If we buy something and decide later not to have it, we can always sell it.”
The property will be paid for with funding allocated to Starke through the American Rescue Plan Act.
