Board to consider renovating old post office

n The future of the building was discussed during a workshop Tuesday.

The old post office in downtown Siloam Springs has sat empty and watched the rest of the historic downtown district blossom around it since being sold at auction in 2011.

That time of dormant disuse may be coming to an end as members of Siloam Springs' Board of Directors gathered an hour before their regularly scheduled meeting on Tuesday to participate in a workshop on the future of the building.

City Administrator Phillip Patterson said only one company had responded to the city's request for proposals issued in February after the Siloam Springs Museum announced that they would no longer move into the space. The response received by the city came from Northwest Arkansas area bicycle shop Phat Tire, which expressed interest in opening a Siloam Springs location in the Old Post Office.

However, before the building can host a business like Phat Tire, there is some work that needs to be done, Patterson said. Patterson proposed a renovation that would replace HVAC units, rework parts of the electrical system like switches, lights and panels, repair the building's plumbing, repair or replace the aged water heater and sump pump, make minimal cosmetic repairs and mitigate the asbestos exposed in the basement.

The plan would not fully renovate the building, and would leave Phat Tire responsible for further cosmetic work. If the city chooses to repair the building, it would cost an estimated $350,000, Patterson said. The city currently has around $120,000 invested in the old post office, dating to when the city purchased the building at auction six years ago.

The project's funding would come from the remainder of the funds the city received from the sale of the hospital. There is around $550,000 in the fund after some savings during the construction of the Siloam Springs Public Library, Patterson said.

A proposed lease agreement with Phat Tire would last two years, with a charge of $833.33 per month for the first year and a rate of $1,041.66 for the second year. Phat Tire would then be given the choice to renew their lease, end the lease or purchase the building, Patterson said. The city calculated the rent costs based on Phat Tire's rent at their other locations as a percentage of the location's sales.

"While this may not be a good decision for a banker, it may be a good complement to our downtown," Patterson said.

Director Amy Smith said that if she had won the lottery, she would renovate the building immediately, but she wasn't sure if it was the best choice for the city's limited funds.

Director Lucas Roebuck said he agreed with Smith and that he thought the money would better serve the project to build sidewalks along East Main Street, which will be expensive, he said. In addition, Roebuck said he did not want to subsidize competition with other bike shops already in Siloam Springs.

Director Bob Coleman asked what it would cost to demolish the building, to which Patterson replied that he wasn't sure if demolition was even an option. The old post office was built in 1937 as part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's Works Progress Administration program, and the building is on the National Register of Historic Places, according to a 2011 Herald-Leader article.

Director Brad Burns said he was in favor of the renovation, saying he was excited to see a business in the building that could enhance quality of life.

"I don't see that we have another option," Coleman said.

General News on 04/23/2017