Staff Writer

The old Coca-Cola building on Thomson Boulevard could eventually provide office space for the Union Public Safety Department.

Union City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to offer the building's owner, Glen Sparks, $253,000 for the property, located at 213 Thomson Boulevard. The money will come out of the city's fund balance.

Mayor Bruce Morgan said Sparks is asking $260,000 for the property, but city policy is to pay no more than the appraised value. After he informed Sparks of this, Morgan said, Sparks told the city to make an offer and he would consider it.

Public Safety Director Sam White said his department needs the property, which is next to the public safety offices. He said that when it was built in 1976, the building was designed to serve as a fire station. The police department at the time was located in the basement of city hall.

In the 1980s, the city converted to the public safety system which combined the fire and police departments. Not long after that the police division of the public safety department outgrew the basement at city hall. An addition was built on to the fire station on Thomson Boulevard and the police division was relocated there.

White said that when it was simply a fire station, the building had few visitors. Since becoming the public safety department, visitor traffic has picked up to a level not anticipated by the building's designers. He said there is very little parking space which must be used by both public safety personnel and visitors. The parking lot has only one handicapped parking space.

In addition, the fueling station for all city vehicles is located at the back of the building. White said this creates additional traffic in and out of the site.

Inside the building, the area used for storing records is rapidly filling up and within five years will be at its maximum capacity, White said. He said the room used by investigators was not designed to accommodate criminal investigations.

White said the Coca-Cola building could be renovated to serve as administrative offices and provide space for records storage. He said the property extends back from Thomson Boulevard to Merriman Avenue and the space behind the building could be used to help reroute traffic to and from public safety and alleviate the lack of parking space.

Though the city would have to purchase the property with its own funds, White said the historic nature of the building could enable the city to get grants to help finance its renovation. White said the building was one of the first Coca-Cola facilities built in South Carolina and is on the national register of historic buildings. Because of the city could possibly obtain money to preserve its historic character while renovating it to become part of the public safety department.

Utilities

In other business, council voted unanimously to allocate up to $78,000 to extend natural gas service to 22 households on the Neal Shoal Road and Fairview Church Circle. The residents signed a petition requesting natural gas service.

The original proposal called for the extension of a two-inch line at a cost of $41,204. At the recommendation of councilman Keith Henderson, the plan was amended to extend a four-inch line at a cost of no more than $78,000. Henderson said he felt the larger line was needed to accommodate any future growth in the area and help the city avoid the cost of having to enlarge it.

Utility director Joe Nichols said the extension will be done by city personnel and financed out of the utility fund.

In a related matter, council also voted unanimously to award the contract for the installation of a pump at the city reservoir to Utility Electric for $73,703.

Nichols told council that the city already operates three pumps at the reservoir. One of those is 250 HP variable speed pump that regulates the flow of water through the water plant. He said the new pump will be a backup to the existing one and allow the city to alternate operations between the two perform maintenance.

Timken

Council also voted unanimously to approve second and final reading of an ordinance allocating $1.6 million to upfit the spec building in Union Commerce Park for lease to Timken Corp.

Timken is leasing the building as part of its expansion of its industrial bearings services capacity in South Carolina and Indiana. The expansion includes moving the industrial bearings services now housed in the Tyger River plant to the spec building. The new facility, which will employ at many as 30 people within the next 24-36 months, will focus exclusively on providing repair and other support service to Timken.

The company will invest $5 million in equipment at the facility, which is scheduled to open in mid-2008 and be fully operational in 2009.

The spec building, which was built by the city and county in 2003 at a cost of $1.2 million, is little more than a shell. The upfit will include putting in concrete flooring, installing utilities, heating and air conditioning, office space and special clean rooms.

Timken will lease the building for $150,000 a year with the option to renew it in two five-year increments. The property taxes paid by Timken on the spec building will be used to compensate the city for the cost of the upfit.