Tallahassee city commissioners agreed on Wednesday that the city will take ownership of a building in the Railroad Square Art District that could house a new performing arts center.
The move allows the TLH Arts project to receive nearly $2 million in Tourist Development Tax funds.
City commissioners voted unanimously to accept the property, located at
618 McDonnell Drive, as a gift from Railroad Square, LLC. But at least one commissioner expressed concern about taking ownership of a new building before the city has had a chance to inspect the property.
"We're accepting a gift that we have not evaluated yet," said Commissioner Diane Williams-Cox. "I have some concern about taking over the maintenance operation without inspection or review or any of that."
Williams-Cox serves on the city's Community Redevelopment Agency board. She was the board's sole dissenting vote on the project because no inspection had been completed. "Nothing against the project — my vote was against the process."
However, Williams-Cox voted in favor of the project during the city commission meeting.
Responding to Williams-Cox, Mayor John Dailey explained the city isn’t technically bound to spend any money because the property is a donation.
“If the acceptance of the gift is to the detriment of the city through ownership, I could not imagine that we would move forward," Dailey said. "In fact, that would probably come back before us. And during all of this process, not a penny of the TDT funds would be spent until we are comfortable.”
The proposal to place a performing arts center in the Railroad Square Art District comes after TLH Arts scrapped plans to build the center in a different location. Local leaders approved allocating $1.8 million to help fund a new center in 2018.
