The Greater Frenchtown Southside Citizens Advisory Committee said Monday night that the city’s Community Redevelopment Agency should consider purchasing part of Railroad Square.
The property was badly damaged in May by a series of tornadoes, and there are mixed opinions on what the property owners should do with it.
In August, the CRA instructed its citizen advisory committee to hold a meeting to discuss whether the city should put in an offer to buy roughly 4 acres of land in the arts district.
That meeting was held Monday.
“We care very much about the art district," said Leon County Commissioner Rick Minor, who stood in favor of protecting Railroad Square.
"We want to pertain it and protect it. We think we need to revitalize it to make it even greater than what it is today.”
The current owners of Railroad Square, siblings Lily and Adam Kaye, say they’re giving the city first dibs at purchasing the land. They say they can no longer maintain the entire property and have received inquiries from private developers.
“I think it would be a travesty and shame if we turn it over to more housing,” committee member Mutaqee Akbar said at Monday’s meeting. “This is an opportunity for us as the CRA to do something meaningful and do something that we would leave for generations and generations.”
The future of Railroad Square will be discussed at next month’s CRA meeting on October 17th.
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Hosted by Tom Flanigan -
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