The Canton City Council approved a deal with the city’s Downtown Development Authority aimed at finding a private developer for the former Board of Education property downtown.
The agreement OK’d late last week provides for the city to sell the historic “Building A and B” tract to the development authority for $50,000 less than the eventual developer will pay. The DDA will present any proposed deal to the council for approval. The agreement also provides for a deal-sweetening-mechanism under which a developer could be re-imbursed for up to $750,000 in costs.
The city acquired the the former grammar school and cotton mill office buildings in March in a land swap with the Cherokee County Board of Education. School officials originally planned to demolish both and build a new central administrative office, but backed off that plan after community criticism.
The agreement provides that any developer preserve the historic properties.
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