News for
September 9, 2026

 

By Myrna Trauntvein:
TN Correspondent:

The city is purchasing property across the street from The HIVE located at 645 East 700 North, with the newly purchased property located at 520 East 700 North.:

Seth Atkinson, city administrator, said that the city had the opportunity to purchase the property across the street from The HIVE.:

“The property would be used for additional parking for HIVE events and has space for a storage facility for the HIVE,” he said.:

Atkinson said that the city had an agreement with the school district that the district would provide a storage facility to the city if the bishop’s storehouse was purchased by the school district and was converted to classrooms.:

Originally, the former seminary/bishop’s storehouse was planned to be a city purchase to be used for storage. However, the school district found the building would be more valuable as classrooms and, therefore, they purchased the building rather than the city.:

The school board recently approved allowing the funds associated with the agreement for a storage facility to be used for this property. He said that the property was approximately one quarter acre.:

“The school board agreed to one-half of the purchase price,” said Brittney Tellez, city attorney.:

Travis Worwood, council member, said that the city was giving up the former seminary/bishop’s storehouse building so that the school district could develop it as an addition for career and technical education space.:

However, that left the city with a need to provide storage for The HIVE and parking for events held there.:

As part of the purchase, Mike Sperry (seller) requested a couple of residential impact fee waivers that could be assigned and, therefore, is willing to reduce the cost to $113,728,” said Atkinson.:

He said that the residential impact fees were valued at $10,000 each making the total $20,000.:

“The Parks, Arts, and Recreation (PAR) tax fund balance can be used to fund this land acquisition,” Atkinson said.:

He said that Sperry had also agreed to clean up the property prior to the city taking it over.:

Worwood, made a motion to authorize the mayor to sign the real estate purchase contract with Mike Sperry for the lot at 520 East 700 North and councilor member, Tate Douglas, seconded the motion. The motion passed on unanimous vote.: