Fort Walton Beach to bid on old school district office complex on Lowery Place

The Fort Walton Beach City Council voted last week to submit a bid to purchase the former Okaloosa County School Board administration complex at 120 Lowery Place. The roughly 8-acre parcel sits just west of Eglin Parkway between First and Second streets.

The property has been mostly vacant since 2017, when the school administration offices were moved to Niceville. In November, the school district put the property up for sale by sealed bid, with a deadline bid-opening of Dec. 15.

Lowery Place was previously identified as one of three potential locations for a new Fort Walton Beach City Hall. The other two options were to build on Chester Pruitt Park on Hollywood Boulevard or demolish the current city hall complex and rebuild at the same location.

Nursing back to healthRoad crew rescues abandoned bunny in Fort Walton Beach, now they are nursing it back to health

In October, the city council heard details about those three options from David Alsop, president of Sam Marshall Architects. The council decided then to put the project on hold in order to get more public input. They also directed city staff to see if the 120 Lowery Place was available to purchase.

Fort Walton Beach’s city hall complex at 107 Miracle Strip Parkway SW dates to 1963. The complex has been plagued by leaky roofs and asbestos, is not compliant with the American's with Disabilities Act, lacks adequate space for city staff and the public and is located in a flood zone.

During last week’s meeting, Mayor Dick Rynearson outlined the choice before the council.

“The decision of where to put it (city hall) has been discussed, but no decision has been reached at this point,” said Rynearson. “With Lowery Place now becoming available….we either need to make a move to preserve that option, or not.”

New city managerFort Walton Beach turns to recruitment firm in search for new city manager

Ring in the Christmas seasonRing in the Christmas season with these Okaloosa County holiday events

With the site of a future city hall yet to be determined, Councilman David Schmidt questioned the reasoning behind purchasing the property.

“What is our need for Lowery Place? Maybe that’s the conversation we need to have here on the board,” Schmidt said. “Preferably, I’d like to identify where we’re putting city hall.”

But Schmidt didn’t rule out the possibility of purchasing the property “so that we can have more oversight on what is being built there to try to protect and preserve our downtown brand.”

Several council members echoed this sentiment.

“With as much work as we’ve put into getting around-the-mound going, the future of (U.S. Highway) 98 will go directly by that,” Councilman Nathan Kelley said. “For us to control the future of that is paramount.”

Councilman Kirby Locklear agreed.

"I would love to see city hall there,” Locklear said. “But even if city hall wasn’t in play, I still would like to see us acquire that property so that, whatever we do with it, it’s in line with the vision that we have for the greater downtown.”

But Locklear also wanted to know how the city would pay for the property.

City Manager Jeff Peters said the council could decide to fund it by adding to a current loan for improvements to the city’s Preston Hood Athletic Complex, taking money from city reserves or from the sale of city property.

Speaking from the audience, Realtor Mark Bethea told the council that even if the city won the bid, it didn’t necessarily mean it would be obliged to go through with the purchase.

“I do think we can structure this proposal,” Bethea said. “If this is how you want to move forward, where you have an out. You’re not committing tonight to buy the property, even if the bid is accepted, we could put in some contingencies.”

Regardless, Council member Mike Holmes expressed reservations about the city purchasing Lowery Place.

“Somebody’s going to buy that piece property and they’re going to develop it to make a profit,” Holmes said. “And it would have to be a good development to do that. I just personally don’t think we need to be in the property purchasing business, so I will not support this motion.”

The council voted 5-1 to submit a bid for the property, with Holmes casting the dissenting vote.

This article originally appeared on Northwest Florida Daily News: Fort Walton Beach will bid on old school district office complex