Owners of final piece of land needed for new center and city
nearing a solution
Gilroy – After nearly two years of negotiations, the last chunk of land needed for Gilroy’s future arts center remains tangled up in wrangling between City Hall and the family that owns the property. But the two sides are nearing a solution that could allow the city to momentarily sidestep the price issue and acquire the land in a matter of months.
Under the deal proposed to the Gera family, the city would place nearly $1.7 million in escrow and proceed with taking possession of the family’s 1.17 acres along Eigleberry and Seventh streets, Gilroy Parks and Facilities Manager Bill Headley said.
Otherwise, city officials face months of additional legal maneuvering to obtain a court order allowing them to take control of the property. The vacant lot, which represents half the land needed for the new facility, will eventually serve as home to a rear portion of the arts center and 115 parking spots.
The Geras are the last of five property owners still battling the city over possession of their land.
“(The latest proposal) doesn’t mean we have agreed on a market value,” Headley said. “It would mean that the property owner is not going to contest the city acquiring the property. We don’t know whether we’re going to be litigating both (issues) or one.
“Depending on how negotiations go, we’re looking at city control of the property in the next few months, if not sooner,” Headley said.
The city has already spent $2.1 million on four other land purchases. The list includes a boarded-up Chinese restaurant, a Salvation Army store and a taqueria – all of them along Monterey Street. The city also purchased two homes around the corner on Seventh Street, between Eigleberry and Monterey streets, where the arts center building will stand.
In total, the arts center plans call for the purchase of 14 separate lots measuring 2.33 acres. The project is estimated to cost $10 million, though that figure was based on a land purchase estimate of $900,000.
Land negotiations have not delayed the project, Headley said, explaining that funds for design and construction are not expected to become available until July 2008. In the meantime, city officials are revisiting a business plan that calls for a handful of “anchor tenants” to house their operations at the center.
Community Services Director Susan Andrade-Wax is meeting with a number of groups that had expressed interest in operating arts programs at the center, including Gavilan College, the Gilroy Unified School District and South Valley Symphony.
“We’re trying to confirm or deny if we have enough organizations to fill the house,” Andrade-Wax said. “You want to make sure you can fill the seats before you build it.”
The arts center is scheduled to open in 2010.
