Fate of Westmar's science center, Centennial dorms and library uncertain

That leaves three: Kime Science and Computer Center, the Charles A. Mock Library and the Centennial Residence Hall.

After Westmar closed in 1997, the city and committees tried to hunt down a Cinderella to fit each of those glass slippers. The library served as a worship center for Rejoice! Church for a few years and First United Methodist for several months. As for the science building, companies like Pioneer and Dekalb considered using the many labs there to do research for value-added agriculture. Local industries looked into using the building. At one point, a culinary school there was even a possibility. And several people in the multi-family housing business have checked out Centennial.

But, as of today, the buildings are empty.

The question hovers for the city: how long do we wait?

"It's been ten years," City Administrator Scott Langel said. "We've got three buildings that have a lot of square footage in each of them. If we could find an alternative use, that would be our first goal. Short of that, there will come a point when we'll just make a decision. I can't tell you right here and now what that would be -- if 12 years is going to be too much, or we're there now at 10."

The city, he said, either needs to sell the buildings and get them and the land back in private sector, or remove the building and sell the land back to private ownership to get it on the tax rolls.

"I can't sit here and say that those won't be razed at some future time," Langel said.

Other than a small parking lot sold this fall, the last major thing the city sold was back in 2003, he said.

And the committees that originally were searching for potential buyers, he added, are now inactive or terminated.

"There was about four years there that not a lot of activity was gained by 'Hey, these buildings are for sale,'" Langel said. "Nobody's coming forward. I think we got to get serious about finishing it, if you want to treat this whole thing as one gigantic project, finish the project, get it done, get it decided, and if that means tearing some of the buildings down, we might have to do that."

The council, he said, will probably review the situation on a six-month basis at the minimum if no other activity comes forward, especially since the city is on a six-month agreement with realtor Roger Athens regarding the property.

Last June or July, Langel said, the issue of the physical plant building came up. After coordinating with a group from Willow Lake, S.D. to remove the large boilers that once heated the campus, the city considered more closely tearing that building down.

"The council did look favorably on the demolition and they motioned to allow us to make the arrangements," Langel said, noting that they're still in that process. "I think that's a good decision. Nobody's stepped forward in ten years."

The council, he said, is simply saying the building's uses have ceased.

"It's now time to just rid ourselves of that building," he said.

Even tearing down a building has a cost.

"In years past when we took down Wernli, Dubs and the IA building, when we demoed those three buildings asbestos, demolition and disposal costs were about $200,000," Langel said.

A professional walk-through has not been completed on these three buildings to see if asbestos removal would be needed.

As for re-using the remaining three buildings, Kime, the library, and Centennial were each designed for a specific purpose, and now that this purpose has ended, matching them up with a new tenant is a tall order, Langel noted.

Centennial, he said, is a perfect example of that -- even Sioux City architect Dale McKinney came up with the conclusion that it was "the least renovatable dormitory."

"Low ceilings, all of the plumbing is in one vertical column through the four stories -- that one's going to be hard if not impossible to go back to a rental real estate," Langel said. "Now, that doesn't mean that's the end of the picture. That building might be suited for any number of groups that run more the boarding house."

The city rented it to the Army at one time to house people during a recruitment event. And contractors have rented it -- NCC housed 15-20 kids there while they were working on city projects. Future possibilities might include the Pride Group system, Life Skills, or a similar organization, Langel said.

"If it was done on a boarding basis, I think that building would be second to very few," he said. "It's all-weather, low maintenance, light and airy, plenty of windows."

Whether the city decides to renovate the buildings more for sale or raze them, the cost will be paid by TIF (tax increment financing) dollars -- tax revenue that has been generated by new development in the Westmar area.

Currently, the area is generating about $200,000 TIF dollars a year for improvements there.

"I do think that sometime fairly soon . . . we either have got to get on with it and get the building and land back in private sector, or remove the building and sell the land back to private," Langel said. "But we just need to get on with it because we're out 10 years."