County offers chamber $80,000
BY PAM BRANNON Gulf Breeze News news@gulfbreezenews.com

The Gulf Breeze Area Chamber of Commerce might need a new home, but it won't go hunting empty handed. The Santa Rosa County School board voted last week to pay half of the cost of the building improvements made by the Chamber, and the value of the lost lease due to the school district's sale of the property. The school board voted to pay the Chamber $80,000-$90,000 from profits of the sale and the City of Gulf Breeze will give them the same amount.

The Chamber building is sitting on property owned by the school district. The school board allowed Gulf Breeze City to use it, as long as it was used by a non-profit group. The Chamber leases the property from the city for $1 a year, and had a 20- year lease. There is still 13 years left on that lease. But the school board decided they needed to liquidate all properties around the county that are not necessary for school use since the state is cutting back on school budgets so drastically.

School Board member Ed Gray III explained to the board, "The Gulf Breeze Chamber has been very gracious in not fighting us on the sale of that property, even though they have a lease. They understand our budget predicaments. They did get an independent appraisal on what the value of the rest of that lease would be, as well as an appraisal on the improvements made on the building since the moved in."

Gray said

those app raisals came back with the lost lease being worth about $120,000 and the renovations worth from $40,000 to $60,000. "The city agrees they have some responsibility in this, since they are actually the ones who signed the 20-year lease," Gray said. "So they have agreed to pay half of the cost, if we can pay half the cost. That would make our part about $80,000 to $90,000. This will make it easier for the Chamber to find a new lease someplace else, with some money in hand to work with."

The school board's attorney Paul Green told board members, "You know, you really are not giving a free gratuity to the Chamber. You are actually paying this to help make the sale go through, because since they have a lease they could put the brakes on the whole deal."

The school board has received several bids for the property. "I was very surprised at the bids offered," School District Superintendent John Rogers said. "Our original appraisal on that property was between $950,000 and $1.1 million. I never imagined we would get bids as high as we did. The high bid, of course, is right at $1.6 million."

The board voted to accept the high bid and to also pay the Gulf Breeze Chamber half of the value of their lost lease and renovations on the property.