Saginaw County Board of Commissioners approves sale of Morley Building

by Barrie Barber | The Saginaw News
Wednesday June 25, 2008, 6:22 AM

Stung by a $1 million loss, the Saginaw County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously Tuesday to unload the riverfront Morley Building in downtown Saginaw for $650,000.

The Saginaw Community Foundation has tentatively agreed to purchase the building at 1 Tuscola to use as a hub for nonprofit organizations, Foundation President Renee Johnston has said.

The Foundation still must raise money to buy the building, reach a parking agreement with the city and inspect the property.

It would move from Jefferson One, 100 S. Jefferson, also located downtown.

Commissioner Michael P. O'Hare has criticized the county's past purchase of the Morley as an ill-advised move. But he wasn't complimentary during its sale, either.

"This is a bad message to send to the public -- don't do business in downtown Saginaw because your money will go (downhill)," the Chesaning Democrat said.

Commissioner Raymond F. Bartels, a Saginaw Township Republican who voted for the original deal, said the county must factor in the cost of future storage of "boxes and boxes" of records it stores inside the Morley, and which may eventually have to move without an agreement to keep them there permanently. The pact allows the records to stay without charge until January 2010.

The tentative agreement also allows MSU Extension, which provides services for residents interested in agriculture, gardening, child care, parenting and nutrition, to stay in parts of the building.

County Controller Marc A. McGill has said no other parties have shown interest in the buying the building, which has had a long battle to retain tenants even as downtown has an abundance of office space.

The county will use sale proceeds to pay off about $550,000 in bonds still due on the Morley and put another $100,000 in a rapidly shrinking maintenance budget for county buildings.

In part, the building has plummeted in worth over the years because state law exempts some nonprofit tenants, such as MSU Extension, from property value calculations, a city official has said.

The city assessed the half the market value of the building -- its State Equalized Value -- at $319,284 a year ago. In 1999, the Saginaw assessor set the value at $669,890, city records have shown.