The city of Beaumont is weighing a change to a sales contract that could save the downtown AT&T building from demolition and open the door for its sale.
A resolution will be presented to the council Tuesday to allow interim city manager Chris Boone to change the contract that previously allowed the city to purchase the building at 555 Main Street.
“The proposed Addendum would remove the requirement that the property be demolished,” according to agenda documents.
The City Council meeting is scheduled at 1:30 p.m. on Tuesday at City Hall located at 801 Main St.
The city previously purchased the building for about $2.7 million in July 2021 from former owner Tom Flanagan. The city made an arrangement with Flanagan to demolish the building after the purchase. As such, the contract under which the city bought the building prohibited the sale or rehabilitation of the property. If the city decided not to tear down the building, Flanagan would have the first right of refusal to buy the building back.
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However, after the council voted to demolish the building to move forward with riverfront development, the city was approached by Dallas-based real estate investor Selim Kiralp, who expressed interest in renovating the building.
He Kiralp previously told the Enterprise that he wants to turn the building into an upscale luxury experience with a rooftop restaurant and bar, apartments, coffee shops, fitness center and other amenities.
Councilman Randy Feldschau told The Enterprise on Monday that it was when Kiralp approached the city, that the council decided to pause and consider the offer. Now that the council has considered not demolishing the building to instead sell it to a developer, Feldschau said the city had to go back to Flanagan to ask him to release the city from the original contract.
Feldschau’s plan at this point is to support the resolution unless new information is brought to his attention. To his knowledge, Flanagan has not expressed an interest in purchasing the building, nor has anyone other than Kiralp. He said Flanagan is in favor of downtown development.
“(Flanagan) wants to see things happen,” Feldschau said. “He’d like to see there be growth downtown and he does want to partner with the city to make things happen and that is why he is willing to work with us and address this issue of removing the clause within the original contract that would free us up to sell the building to a developer and allow a developer to develop that building.”
“We appreciate Mr. Flanagan’s willingness to work with us and partner with us so that we can see downtown Beaumont developed,” he added.
The Enterprise previously reported that Kiralp has already made a verbal $3 million offer to the city, which Feldschau said would recoup the cost of the purchase as well as the $300,000 the city spent on asbestos abatement in the building. Construction was expected to transform the building from the ground up over the next two years, if the city could find a middle ground that would allow Kiralp to move forward with his vision.
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While Kiralp has already expressed his interest, he’s not guaranteed the deal.
If the city decides to approve the contract change, Feldschau said the city would be required by law to open the sale up to the public for bids and proposals to see if anyone else is interested in purchasing and developing the building.
“We as a council will look at the best proposal that we find for the citizens of Beaumont,” Feldschau said.
This will be the first public discussion about the matter since the city’s previous decision to demolish.
At least one council member, Audwin Samuel, has voiced disapproval about the plan as the decision had already been made to demolish the building, he previously said.
Councilman Mike Getz told the Enterprise on Monday that he plans to support the resolution and was glad that the city was able to reach an agreement with Flanagan.
“An investor has appeared on the horizon with some wonderful ideas on what he wants to do with that building, putting it back on the tax rolls, this would be in the private sector,” Getz said. “This is what I thought should have been done with the building from the very beginning. It is why I oppose the city ever participating in the auction in the first place, it is why I oppose the city buying it from Mr. Flanagan, and it is why I oppose the idea of demolishing the building without any given consideration for what other purpose the building could be used for.
“…There may be other ideas out, it might become competitive in the private sector, I don’t know. But we know that Mr. Kiralp has some great, forward-thinking ideas and we just need to help make that happen.”
Aside from the demolition clause, the revised contract asks that the building not be used for office space. Feldschau said office space would potentially be in direct competition to the other buildings that Flanagan owns and is developing in downtown Beaumont.
It also states that the buyer would be required to develop and adopt a Downtown Security Enhancement Plan no later than Oct. 1 and form an advisory committee empowered with the purpose of formulating a long-term master plan for the revitalization of downtown Beaumont no later than Oct. 31.
“The building has the potential to be transformative in terms of what is going on downtown,” Getz said. “It is in a great location, you see the river from it, and the idea of putting a restaurant or rooftop restaurant and bar up there, and maybe some pad restaurants out there in the back part of the parking lot– I think are attractive to many, many of the citizens in Beaumont. I think we should do everything we can to make that happen.”
Feldschau said there is a hope that by developing the building into a residential property with restaurants fits with the continued vision of developing Riverfront Park, wrapping it around the building and green space, to ultimately attract more businesses, including restaurants.
“Hopefully, this will be the spark to help revitalize downtown Beaumont with also the revitalizing of Crockett Street,” Feldschau said. “So, it is one more piece of the puzzle of trying to get something started, where we can see downtown Beaumont begin to come back alive.”
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