County acquires Thoroughbred/George's building

By Lee Bonorden (Contact) | Austin Daily Herald

Published Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Mower County has acquired the Thoroughbred Carpet/George’s Pizza building in the Robbins block.

The announcement was made at Tuesday morning’s county board meeting.

The action marks the first step by Mower County officials to acquire the entire city block for purposes of developing it for geothermal uses in the new Mower County Jail and Justice Center across Second Avenue Northeast from the block.

Two properties remain to be acquired: Robbins Furniture and Design Gallery and a northeast corner of the block owned by the owners of Usem’s Inc.

Craig Oscarson, county coordinator, told the commissioners the two properties could be acquired in the next two weeks.

The county will pay Richard Huffman, owner of the Thoroughbred Carpet/George’s Pizza real estate along First Street Northeast, $373,566.

The figure includes a $50,000 relocation fee, plus the second-half real estate taxes paid on the property.

Whether Huffman moves his business or not, the $50,000 relocation fee is his, according to the agreement negotiated by attorney Paul Sween.

In addition, Kevin Soiney, owner of the popular George’s Pizza restaurant, will also receive a $50,000 relocation fee.

While Soiney has stated publicly his intentions to move the pizza restaurant into the former South Central Athlete building along North Main Street, Huffman did not announce his future plans for the Thoroughbred Carpet business.

When county board chairman Richard P. Cummings, 1st District, and the county coordinator invited Huffman to comment on the real estate transition, Huffman said, “I’ll throw the first brick.”

The reminder that all the businesses in the block must be gone from the site by Dec. 31 prompted Huffman’s remark.

The Robbins block is coveted by Mower County for developing geothermal conductivity to heat/cook the new jail and justice center across Second Avenue Northeast and occupying two city blocks between Second Avenue and Fourth Avenue Northeast and First and Second Streets Northeast.

Michael Robbins, president of the company that owns Robbins Furniture and Design Gallery, has made public his desire to close his business and leave the location of the three-generation, family-owned business.

Robbins has plastered the windows of his business with “Jail Sale” signs to verify that intention.

There was little discussion of the Thoroughbred Carpet/George’s Pizza acquisition Tuesday morning.

The acquisition was unanimously approved by a 4-0 vote (Dave Tollefson, 5th District county commissioner, was absent from the meeting).

In a related action Tuesday, the county board approved authorizing attorney Sween to negotiate an agreement with Soiney to relocate his business from the Robbins Block.

After the county board’s action, Tucker said, “We’re getting close. I think it’s all going to come together.”

The acquisition of the Robbins Block with the city’s money paid Mower County has not been popular everywhere in the city.

While the Austin Area Chamber of Commerce applauded the county’s decision to locate the jail and justice center facilities downtown, losing another square block of downtown property and the real estate taxes the owners paid to the county may dampen the excitement over the addition of a $32 million jail and justice center to the area.

In addition, the Austin Main Street Project’s ambitious efforts to revitalize the greater downtown area included an 11th hour and, obviously too late, effort to convince the county to save the three-story building for development were thwarted.

“We’re going to know more about its future in the next two weeks,” said Tucker.