The Jefferson City Council recently approved purchasing private property.

City Administrator Mike Palmer says the Council bought an abandoned three-story home at 307 North Wilson Avenue for $5,000. 

“Doesn’t sound like much money but it’s a very large, old home. It’s really beyond repair at this point and to remove it, it’s going to be quite costly. But we’re just happy that we finally are able to acquire this property.       

He tells Raccoon Valley Radio the City has been working with the property owner, John Copeland, for a few years, in which the City will tear down the current structure. Palmer points out the City also received a donation to demolish properties that the City purchases, so no taxpayer money will be used in this project. He describes the next steps after the building is taken down.

“It’s going to be kind of part of an overall neighborhood improvement if we can. There’s some other abandoned properties in the area too that we kind of wanted to keep the momentum going if we can. There’s still going to be some money left from this donation that we had. So if we can maybe get another property, we’d be pretty happy about that.”

Palmer adds the City also offers other matching incentives with private property owners to tear down buildings as well.