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| Monmouth City Council Approves Leasing Armory |
The former National Guard Armory building in Monmouth won't be sitting vacant much longer.
The Monmouth City Council Monday night unanimously approved a one-year lease with Jack Toal of Starting Point Ministries, who wants to turn the Armory at 215 South First Street into a community center. The city acquired the building last December after the guard moved to Galesburg, and not much has been happening at the building since.
Monmouth City Administrator Eric Hanson tells WGIL the move provides the city its holding costs and gives Toal's group access to the building. "They're going to try and look at putting together groups of interested partners in creating a community center type of feel," Hanson said. "There will be multiple groups involved. I think they've got a good group of community partners that have put together some revenue, and are going to go in and make a good use of that facility for a multitude of things related to social services, a community center, a gymnasium, and classrooms, and all kinds of things."
The building has 42,000 square feet and has primarily been used since the National Guard left for storing equipment for the police and fire departments. The facility has a gym, locker rooms, classrooms and other amenities.
Hanson says there was some private interest in buying the building from the city, but nothing that materialized and nothing that officials felt was in the long-term best interest of the city. He says the reason the city entered into a 12-month lease with Toal and Starting Point is to see if the arrangement works out for both sides, and if so, the lease could be extended after a year.
The lease takes effect January 1st. |
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| 11 18 08 by Newsroom |
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