Council purchases former Wold ;br; drugstore building, seeks investor

Published 12:00 am Tuesday, October 5, 1999

The Austin City Council took the first real step toward its goal of renovating areas of the downtown Monday night by authorizing the purchase of the former Wold Drugstore/Ertl’s Toys for $65,000.

Tuesday, October 05, 1999

The Austin City Council took the first real step toward its goal of renovating areas of the downtown Monday night by authorizing the purchase of the former Wold Drugstore/Ertl’s Toys for $65,000.

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The stated goal of the city is to achieve restoration and eventual private ownership of the building during the year 2000 if possible.

"In prior years I have been concerned about the city buying property," council member Dick Lang said before the council made a unanimous vote in favor of purchasing the building. "The city of Austin is taking the only building on Main Street that is empty and is looking for a private developer for the property. Private – I want people to be clear about that."

City Administrator Pat McGarvey explained that the city would look for a private investor who would make the commitment – and have the ability to financially meet that commitment – to restore the building in a historically accurate manner. The Housing and Redevelopment Authority did something similar with the old railroad depot in northeast Austin two years ago.

The HRA purchased the depot from the railroad company, and eventually sold it to Gary Groh construction for $1 on the condition that Groh renovate the property. Groh is currently in the process of renovating the building.

Located at the southwest corner of 2nd Avenue and Main Street, the old Wold Drugstore with the cupola on top has been on the market for several months and vacant even longer.

The money to pay for the store will eventually come from Tax Increment Financing District No. 10, although the bonds for the city’s latest TIF district have not yet been sold. The monies from TIF No. 10 – estimated at $875,000 total – are to be spent on certain areas the city targeted in the downtown.

Some, certainly not all, of those areas will be next on the city’s list.

McGarvey stressed that the funds from the TIF district would not be enough to tackle all of the targeted areas. However, city staff included several blocks of downtown to allow to give the city more flexibility with its decision making and in case more funding was made available for the district.