The Jefferson City Council took another step forward in getting out of the real estate business.

At their regular meeting on March 8th, the Council approved selling its final two downtown properties 105 and 107 North Chestnut Streets. The south bay of the former AirTemp building, at 105 North Chestnut Street, was sold to Heisterkamp Properties with Philip and Bridgette Heisterkamp for $51,000. The Heisterkamps plan to open a new eating establishment called the Mustard Seed Coffee House, which will offer healthy food choices and coffees. They also entered into an economic development agreement, of which they received $75,000 and that includes the purchase price, leaving them with $24,000 for additional improvements.

The north bay was sold to Cretsinger and Greiner Properties for $45,000 and they too also entered into an economic development agreement for $75,000, which leaves them with $30,000 for improvements. The tenant will be Heritage Insurance. 

City Administrator Mike Palmer says the City will continue renovating the entire building, including installing a new roof, “white boxing” the interior and restoring the front exterior facade to its original historical look. He points out the facades used to have brick, but the mortar fell into disrepair and the brick fell into the street.

“As a temporary fix, the brick was completely removed and the wood studs and vinyl siding were put up, as a meaning to at least get it closed up. It’s been that way for quite a while now. So what will happen is all the vinyl and the wood studs, take that all down, and relay the brick, and put the windows back in how they were originally designed. A good example would probably be the old Pizza Ranch building. That’s the kind of transformation that people can look to see.”    

Palmer anticipated crews to be done as early as June before the new owners can take over their respective properties.