BRISTOL, Tenn. – City Council members Tuesday night enthusiastically threw their support behind a city proposal to purchase the former H.P. King department store on State Street.
During their monthly work session, council members backed a plan by City Manager Jeffrey Broughton for the city to purchase the King building for $256,000 from current owner Jean Burnette. The idea surfaced just weeks after the vacant, historic building failed to sell at auction.
The city would invest another $30,000 in safety and environmental work on the three-story building and then recruit a developer or company to buy and use it. The old store has 45,306 square feet.
“I’d hate to see that beautiful building sit there and become a downtown eyesore,” said Councilman Joel Staton. “If we have to purchase it to prevent that, we should do it.”
Mayor Fred Testa agreed with Staton, adding, “The time is right and the conditions are right for us to buy it.”
Council will officially vote on the purchase at its Jan. 5 meeting.
Broughton said the city had previously expressed interest in acquiring the former King department store because of its potential as a downtown asset.
But Broughton said the city’s interest peaked even more last month, after Burnette failed to sell the building during a Nov. 27 auction. While Charles Dixon of Piney Flats made a high bid of $255,000 on the building, he quickly backed out of the deal.
“[She] has since indicated that she’s willing to sell the building to us for that $255,000 price,” Broughton said of Burnette.
Broughton said Bristol was willing to add another $1,000 to the deal to help cover Burnette’s expenses from last month’s unsuccessful auction.
“We certainly don’t want to own the property,” Broughton said. “We’d try to turn it over as fast as we could. So our approach will be to acquire it, stabilize it and quickly seek a partner who can best use it.”
Broughton said the city would try to model such a project after its past purchase and sale of another State Street building. The site of the former Sears building is where Macado’s, a popular downtown restaurant, now stands.
That idea drew strong encouragement from Councilman David Shumaker, who said taking over King’s department store would be another sign of Bristol’s progress in reviving its downtown area.
“We have to protect the good things that have been going on down there,” Shumaker said. “We’ve got to keep this momentum going.”
rbrown@bristolnews.com | (276) 645-2512
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