Gadsden reaches new agreement to sell old Sears building; developer plans loft apartments
The City of Gadsden again has an agreement to sell the old Sears building at 741 Forrest Ave. to someone who plans to repurpose the site for residential use.
The City Council on Tuesday approved the sale for $50,000 to CCJC Holdings LLC, a group put together by Gadsden developer Caleb Campbell.
Mayor Craig Ford said Campbell's group plans to create up to 24 loft apartments at the site and is ready to begin work once the transaction closes, hopefully later this week.
“They are ready to start the process,” the mayor said during the pre-council work session.
Last July, the council approved the sale of the building to Highlands Bound LLC, another local developer, for $100,000 with multiple incentives included in that price.
That deal fell through, however, and Ford said the city wanted to keep any new transaction simple: a flat $50,000 with no incentives.
“We get this continous stream of investors saying 'This is what we do, this is what we want,' ” he said. “Then it's 'Will you give us incentives,' like per condo or sales tax rebates. This is too complicated a piece of property and you can't do that.”
Sears was located in the building from the 1940s until it relocated to the Gadsden Mall in 1974. The Alabama Department of Human Resources used it for office space for a while, but the building sat vacant until the city acquired it.
Campbell has a track record in Gadsden, including development of the old Federal Building for private usage and other loft apartments downtown, so city officials are optimistic about his plans for the Sears site.
He's also interested in the adjacent former Jack's site at 721 Forrest Ave. for commercial development, Ford said, although it wasn't included in this transaction.
Should something go wrong this time, however, Ford left no doubt about his plan. “If we don't sell it, I'm going to tear it down,” he promised. “I can do that myself. People are tired of seeing it.”
The council also approved an easement for Coosa Riverkeeper to locate a historical marker to the beloved cartoon character Popeye — who has Gadsden connections — at Jack. L. Ray Park.
Popeye actually was created by cartoonist E.C. Segar, a native of Illinois, in 1929 as part of his comic strip “Thimble Theater.”
Tom Sims, a native and longtime resident of Ohatchee, took over as the strip's writer after Segar's death in 1938, and continued in that role for more than two decades . He spearheaded the spinning off of Popeye into a separate strip.
According to the book “Legends and Lore of Birmingham & Central Alabama,” by Beverly Crider, Sims' father captained a Gadsden-based ship called the Leota, and Sims used his memories of the people he encountered on the ship and while growing up on the Coosa River in Popeye storylines.
The council also approved two change orders to existing bids: a nearly $280,000 increase to Vulcan Materials for the resurfacing of Hillsboro Drive, caused by issues with the road's foundation; and $53,663 to Thrive Outdoor's landscape maintenance bid for irrigation and Bermuda grass seeding on the access road to the Gadsden Sports Complex.
Several board appointments were approved, to varying terms: Micah Harris (replacing Danny Jackson), Ben Reed and Katie Simpson to the Greater Etowah 310 board (the organization provides services to the intellectually disabled; and Kyle Chambers, Shelly Dooley, Mandell Tilllman, Kent Haney, Hugh Miller, Erin Patterson, Beth Pierce, Chris Robinson and Jonathan Welch to the restructured Gadsden Commercial Development Authority board.
This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Loft apartments planned for site of old Sears building in Gadsden
