The Curious Kids Museum has made a new offer to the city of St. Joseph to purchase its building at 415 Lake Boulevard. At a Monday meeting, St. Joseph City Commissioners received the offer of $500,000 for the city-owned Memorial Hall, which the museum leases. That’s after an offer of $140,000, made in June, was not accepted by the commission. Commissioners Monday could not vote on the new offer, though, because City Attorney Laurie Schmidt and Commissioner Lynn Todman were not present. Still, Mayor Laura Goos said the new offer “brings us much closer.”
“We certainly appreciate everything that the curious Kids Board has considered,” Goos said. “We’re going to take it very seriously. We’re excited to see us moving forward with this discussion with them. We’re excited to continue to partner with them in every way possible.”
Curious Kids has sought to purchase the building since a fire there in July of last year. It says to do repairs and make other improvements, raising needed funds would be easier if it just owned the building. Commissioners in June balked at the museum’s first offer because it was perceived as too low. The market value of the building is estimated to be as much as $1.4 million. Its appraised value with no lease is estimated at $482,000, while with a lease, it’s $140,000. In addition to the price, Goos said the city also wants to negotiate a commitment that the building will continue to be used as a museum, a possible revert clause, and a right of first refusal should the museum choose to sell the property. The matter will come up again at another meeting.
