City Acquires Joe Orr Strip Mall, Alderman Concerned About the Future of the Property

, the voted in favor of acquiring the strip small formerly housing Ace Hardware on Joe Orr Road. But one alderman is worried the City will tear the strip mall down and create another vacant lot.

The property, located at 190 Joe Orr, was being maintained by the city and therefore had a lien against it. It also had hundreds of thousands of dollars in back-taxes piling up and is showing deterioration along the roof, according to Corporation Counsel T.J. Somer.

The city's plan was to execute a deed in lieu of foreclosure, eliminate the back-taxes and repair the building.

"The benefit of that is always, when we do these kinds of deals . . . is that we make it marketable again," Somer said. "By doing this deed in lieu of foreclosure agreement we will completely wipe out the back taxes. When we combine that with the vacant property we own next to it, we're going to have one heck of a great piece of commercial retail property."

Every present council member supported the immediate acquisition except Fourth Ward Ald. Josh Deabel, who had pressing questions about the future of the property and , which is housed in that strip mall.

"What are the plans once the city does take it over?" Deabel asked. "We do know that Habitat really is happy with this location and I think they want to expand that. Do we have any options there?"

Mayor David Gonzalez did not mention any future plans for the property but did give importance to the opinion of Habitat Executive Director David Tracy.

"We've been in discussions with David Tracy for the last six months regarding the Ace property, and I would really love to see what his suggestions are in terms of that property," Gonzalez said.

While Gonzalez declined to set any future plans for the strip mall in stone, Deabel said he wanted to make sure the city would not acquire the property and tear it down like he's seen in the past.

"I would hate to see another property vacant, being torn down without any plans and without any true discussion with Habitat for Humanity," Deabel said.

Somer said the future of the property was a separate issue and encouraged the council to approve acquiring the land first and foremost.

"You have all the time in the world to discuss the future use of that property and what you think is good or bad," Somer said. "Right now it's important that you take title to that, because no matter what you do with it, it will never ever become marketable again if we don't do this."

Deabel continued repeating his concerns, all the way up until it was time to vote on the matter.

"I just don't want to see this building torn down," Deabel said. "That's all I want to say."

While First Ward Ald. Walter Mosby was not in attendance, five council members voted in favor of the acquisition. Deabel voted against it.

The city's immediate plan is to do a short-term least with , until a decision is made on what to do with the property, according to Somer.

Take a look at our past stories about the old Ace Hardware property:

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