GILROY
– City Council approved Monday a two-lot land purchase that by
2010 will house part of Garlic Town’s cultural art center at
Seventh and Monterey streets despite a no-vote from Councilman
Craig Gartman.
City Council voted 5-1 to pay $310,000 to property-owner
Baleriana Oyao for the 6,330-square-foot chunk of land,
representing the first binding commitment to the downtown location.
The parcels make up just a fraction of the future cultural hub
which will cost the city $3.2 million in land purchases.
GILROY – City Council approved Monday a two-lot land purchase that by 2010 will house part of Garlic Town’s cultural art center at Seventh and Monterey streets despite a no-vote from Councilman Craig Gartman.
City Council voted 5-1 to pay $310,000 to property-owner Baleriana Oyao for the 6,330-square-foot chunk of land, representing the first binding commitment to the downtown location. The parcels make up just a fraction of the future cultural hub which will cost the city $3.2 million in land purchases.
Gartman was the lone dissenter after his request to discuss the purchase agreement in a study session or closed session was not granted.
Gartman said he was under the impression staff was investigating costs only and argued that it would make better business sense to make purchase offers on all the lots on the Monterey/Seventh/
Eigleberry block at one time.
“I would like to see this brought before us as a package so we don’t give unfair leverage to any other land owner that we would be purchasing from,” Gartman said.
Gartman said property owners neighboring the Oyao lots may now be inclined to “hold out for more money” since they know the city has to buy their land.
Councilman Peter Arellano said the city will only make market rate bids for land and that waiting longer to make a purchase could drive up costs.
“If we wait for the other (properties) to fall in, we end up paying more for these lots,” Arellano said.
The city has set aside $3.2 million for the site purchase. Construction would begin in 2008 and be funded by park development impact fees the city collects from developers. Planning for the design of the cultural center should begin in two to three years, Baksa said, and construction could be complete by 2010.
The cultural center is in a conceptual design phase only, but “footprint” plans call for a theater, garden, art gallery and 115 parking spaces among other details.
It will also take money to run the place, and arts advocates are preparing to launch a major long-term campaign aimed at securing a source of stable funding.
The idea is to start a $2 million endowment specifically for the cultural center, where interest earned from the invested funds would provide most or all of the operations and maintenance costs that are not covered by center revenues themselves.
A financial consultant has initially projected an annual loss of roughly $136,000 from operations.
Meanwhile, the consultant also estimated the center will generate roughly $200,000 a year in indirect tax revenues for the city as center visitors patronize downtown restaurants and businesses or stay in city motels – money that task force members aren’t planning to touch.
