To Sell or Not to Sell:

By: Emily Hernandez:

Amarillo College is selling a storage warehouse on Harrison Street to raise funds for needed repairs and renovations on the Washington Street Campus.

“We have an opportunity to sell it while the interest in the property is high, so we have a chance to sell this property at the highest possible gain to the college,” Steve Smith, vice president of business affairs, said.

AC purchased the warehouse Dec. 30, 1994. It was used to store unused items such as old furniture and fixtures as well as costumes and sets for the theater department.

“We are in the process of cleaning the warehouse out so that we could consider selling the property.  The board of regents has been notified that we have had interested parties contact us about purchasing the property.  The board would have to vote to authorize the sale and we would have to publicly request bids before a sale could take place,” Smith said.

By selling the warehouse, the college can use the funds to repair and renovate space for student use without having to cut other items in the budget.

“We will reduce our costs by no longer paying for utilities and property maintenance to store items, 90 percent of which have no future use to the college. If this property is purchased by a private company then it begins to generate property taxes that benefit the college,” Smith said.

Items that are used by the theater department have been relocated to other available storage space, while most of the other items that were stored in the warehouse had no future plans to be used by AC and were donated to various schools and charities.

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