County Annex Likely On The Block

Natrona County Commissioners want to give the County Annex Building six months on the block. They'd rather see the building at 1st and David reused than knocked down.

Natrona County Commissioner, Ed Opella, says they've been kicking around ideas for what to do with the mothballed building over the last year.

"The problem being you can mothball something for a while, but at some point the bricks are gonna fall off the building.  At some point its gonna become, not an eyesore,  but its gonna be a problem safety wise."

Opella says they're faced with two choices; tear it down or sell if off.  Commissioners know that what ever the decision they will have to contend with the cost of asbestos removal.  That's estimated at over $ 86,000  thousand.  A rough tear down cost of  about $600,000  thousand includes removal.

A pricey building removal would afford the county some parking spaces,  something that,  Opella says, continues to be at a premium.  If the building were to be sold,  he personally believes they'd have to give up some spaces.

"We've been told there's a possibility that someone might want to rebuild the building and maybe negotiate a price.  So, as we left it at the last meeting,  we were probably gonna after the first of the year look at six months and if we don't get any serious offers of some sort or another then were probably going to have to look at the possibility of tearing it down.  Nobody wants to do that, but that's the reality."

Opella says a rough estimate for the building that was once a hotel and possibly even a house of ill repute, is around $550,000 thousand.