Members of the the County-Owned Property Committee met at Washington County's Training and Learning Center on Tuesday to go over plans to redevelop the county-owned facility.
Members of the the County-Owned Property Committee met at Washington County's Training and Learning Center on Tuesday to go over plans to redevelop the county-owned facility.
The County-Owned Property Committee received an on-site update Tuesday of the early stages of renovations to the Washington County Training and Learning Center (TLC) in Gray.
Members of the committee had an opportunity to see work being done to transform the former Citi call center building into the new Gray branch of the Washington County Public Library.
County Commissioner David Tomita, the chairman of the committee, said the library project is the first phase of the redevelopment of the county-owned facility.
“It’s coming together, phases one and two, slowly but surely,†Tomita told his colleagues.
He noted the next phase involves leasing the cafeteria and kitchen area of the TLC to Northeast State Community College for its culinary arts program. He said the Blountville-based college is requesting the county make some upgrades to the space, which “we would amortize the principal interest over the five-year lease.â€
He said the County-Owned Property Committee expects to hear an outline of those exact costs at its meeting in June.
Work continues to transform space in Washington County's Training and Learning Center into the new Gray branch of the Washington County Library.
By ROBERT HOUK
rhouk@sixriversmedia.com
“We did not take action on it today, because we don’t have a firm price on the upgrades,†Tomita said. “We’ve got about $400,000 left in cash from the sale of the library. So if it comes in around that, that makes it pretty easy.â€
That spending is coming from $1.4 million (which represent the proceeds from the sale of the current Gray library building at 5026 Bobby Hicks Highway) that has already been allocated for the project.
Commissioners voted last year to purchase 81,316 square feet in the former Citi building at 533 Sid Martin Road for $4.5 million.
Work continues to relocate the Gray library branch to approximately 15,000-square feet in the TLC building. County officials have agreed that other portions of the facility will be remodeled and leased to other nonprofit or governmental entities.
Tomita said the third phase of the TLC project is expected to include shared community and meeting space. He said the final stage of the development has not been finalized.
“There’s likely going to be some meeting space out here, but we don’t know what the utilization of the rest of it will be,†Tomita said of the TLC. “It’s a little premature, so we don’t want to go in and put exits here now.â€
