©2013 Galesburg Broadcasting Co.
| Garza Suggests Knox County Could Use Ferris Building |
FIRST REPORTED 3:00pm 3/30/10 Galesburg Mayor Sal Garza says he may have a better idea for a downtown building the city bought a year and a half ago and has suggested could become a boutique hotel.
Garza and several Galesbug aldermen toured the former Ferris Moving and Storage facility on Mulberry Street Tuesday. A study was commissioned and revealed in January as to the feasibility of such a hotel, which determined that a full hotel could be phased in over time, and could serve Knox College and the proposed National Railroad Hall of Fame.
But Garza tells WGIL it's prudent to have more than one idea, and in this case, his could benefit Knox County.
"We could possibly work with a private developer, to develop this for office space, that would meet the physical space requirements of the non-judicial offices there at the (Knox County) Courthouse," Garza said. "The opportunity that we have here is eventually, we'll have a (rail crossing) Quiet Zone, we'll have the additional parking spaces, as well as having a private developer bear the cost of the renovation."
Garza says the developer could then lease the office space to the county, ultimately saving taxpayers money. Garza says he's had what he called soft conversations with Knox County Board Chairman Greg Bacon about the matter.
According to Wayne Saline, chair of the Knox County Board's Finance Committee, in a statement issued Tuesday afternoon, "We have had informal conversations with the City on various properties. To my knowledge there has never been a discussion on the Farris [sic] Furniture property. Certainly, any serious discussion on any property would originate in the Building Committee, and this property has never been discussed."
(Mayor Sal Garza walks through one of the empty storage areas at the former Ferris Moving and Storage facility Tuesday morning.)
(WGIL News Story, photo, and file photo by Will Stevenson.) |
|
| 03 30 10 by Newsroom |
Share
Click here for the WGIL News Archive
Click here for national news
All AP stories are Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
The following provision applies to all visitors (which shall include persons and representatives of legal entities, whether such representatives are persons or digital engines of a kind that crawls, indexes, scrapes, copies, stores or transmits digital content). By accessing this Web site or digital service, you specifically acknowledge and agree that: (i) Associated Press text, photo, graphic, audio and/or video material shall not be published, broadcast, rewritten for broadcast or publication or redistributed directly or indirectly in any medium; (ii) No Associated Press materials nor any portion thereof may be stored in a computer except for personal and non-commercial use; (iii) The Associated Press will not be held liable for any delays, inaccuracies, errors or omissions therefrom or in the transmission or delivery of all or any part thereof or for any damages arising from any of the foregoing; (iv) The Associated Press is an intended third party beneficiary of these terms and conditions and it may exercise all rights and remedies available to it; and (v) The Associated Press reserves the right to audit possible unauthorized commercial use of AP materials or any portion thereof at any time.
.PNG)