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City may buy Dexter Avenue properties
By Jill Nolin • May 8, 2010
As redevelopment of Montgomery's riverfront has flourished, redevelopment of lower Dexter Avenue has lagged behind, partially because of the vacant storefronts and businesses along the avenue. Montgomery officials, tired of waiting for something to happen, are attempting to buy several of these properties for the city.
The city has made an offer to property owner Archie Daryanani, but neither Montgomery Mayor Todd Strange nor Daryanani's attorney, Charles Edmondson, would discuss details when asked on Friday.
"It's a fair business deal," Strange said.
The city is looking at fewer than a dozen of Daryanani's properties along lower Dexter Avenue that Strange said have "strategic value." Daryanani owns numerous properties on lower Dexter Avenue, most of which have been vacant for years.
Strange and Edmondson both declined to say how much the city offered Daryanani. Strange would only say that the offer was "substantially below the amount that Daryanani was asking." At one point, 10 of his Dexter Avenue properties were listed for a combined $5.1 million.
When contacted Friday, Daryanani said he did not have time to talk and deferred comment to his attorney.
"They are looking at a number of things to determine if this is something that they want to pursue," Edmondson said.
Strange said the city has talked to other property owners on lower Dexter Avenue, but he said those conversations have not developed into anything more serious.
If the city decides to purchase Daryanani's properties, it would turn around and resell them at a reasonable price to someone who would develop them, Strange said.
The prices that Daryanani is asking for the individual properties have been a "limiting factor" for revitalization on lower Dexter Avenue, the mayor said.
Strange said that the redevelopment of lower Dexter Avenue, as well as Three Points and Maxwell Boulevard, "is a natural extension" of the rebirth on the riverfront. He said the redevelopment would probably come eventually to Dexter Avenue without the city's intervention, but that under the present circumstance it would require a tremendous wait time.
The city has an option on the properties and is currently doing its due diligence, where it will do an environmental assessment and other inspections. Strange said the negotiations could be complete by the end of the summer.
Strange said the city decided to attempt to acquire the properties on lower Dexter Avenue after several potential investors repeatedly commented to city officials about the asking prices for the properties. Because of the high cost of merely purchasing the individual properties, the would-be investors dismissed their business idea as unfeasible.
"We had people come to us and say, 'We can't make the numbers work,'" Strange said.
The city has been talking to developers who are interested in bringing businesses such as a deli, a restaurant, a women's clothing store and lofts to lower Dexter Avenue. The city is also working with the Montgomery City-County Public Library Board to try to move the main branch to lower Dexter Avenue.
Strange said the city would be able to get an overall better deal because the cost to buy several properties at once is less expensive than buying each property individually. Doing this will drive down the cost for developers, he said.
"Then we get the economic development benefit from that as opposed to (the properties) just sitting there as dilapidated, abandoned buildings," Strange said, adding that the city would recover the costs over time.
Edmondson, who has represented Daryanani for about 10 years, said he has talked to many people over the years who have expressed an interest in buying the buildings. He said he personally feels the most confident in the city's ability to redevelop the buildings while preserving their historical attributes.
Most of the properties were built between 1890 and about 1930. This segment of roadway is also a final part of the Selma to Montgomery National Historic Trail.
"I am a tremendous supporter of downtown. I am very much in favor of seeing this town come back to life," Edmondson said. "I had always hoped the city would take the lead."
Edmondson also noted that, as the owner of the properties, the city would have the ability to control what came of the buildings in the future, which would create a sense of uniformity and avoid elements that do not fit into the overall vision.
"We are starting to have something this town can offer people to attract them here that we just haven't had before," Edmondson said.
"It would be my greatest desire that the historical significance of downtown is preserved, and I think this administration intends to do that and has demonstrated that thus far," he added.
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