BEAUMONT, Texas — The Beaumont City Council will hold a meeting on Tuesday, July 27 to consider authorizing the city manager to execute all documents necessary to purchase the downtown AT&T building.
The city is considering buying the property located on 555 Main Street and demolishing it to make room for riverfront development.
On Friday, July 16, the city released images from their plans for possible uses of the space where the AT&T building sits. City Manager Kyle Hayes estimates the entire project would cost about $5 million.
Hayes estimates roughly $2.8 million would cover the purchase price of the property from current owner Tom Flanagan. Other expenses would cover the cost of demolition and land improvements.
Beaumont City Councilman Mike Getz said this new idea may not be the best one.
"This is what I’m trying to promote on land that we already own this is celebration park in Naples, Florida. It’s an upscale food truck park," Getz said.
Related: Packed House: City of Beaumont hosts town hall about proposal to purchase AT&T building
On Tuesday, July 13 the city held a meeting to gauge where the Beaumont community stood on the purchase decision.
The community seemed evenly split on the cities decision to purchase the building. Some said the purchase of the building would bring in money more to the city.
“You get something in downtown Beaumont, and you see people coming off the freeway to visit,” a member of the Beaumont community who was for the purchase said. “That is money you do not have to spend because that will bring tax dollars to the city. That is what people are not understanding.”
Others argued the money spent on this could be used to better the city of Beaumont. “To develop money into this is not wise when we need streets that do not flood,. We need our sewage improved. We need a lot of infrastructures, and this is not infrastructure.”
The city lost the building in 2019 online auction, when Tom Flanagan bought it for more then $2 million. The auction for the building started Feb.11, 2019 and ended Feb. 13, 2019.