Cascade County Commissioners voted Tuesday to approve the purchase agreement of Banik Communications in the Tribune Executive Plaza at 121 4th St. N.

The purchase price is $357,800.

That price includes a portion of the fees the Banik’s paid into the condo association’s capital improvement fund. Some of those funds were refunded since the improvements hadn’t yet been completed.

County prepping for office remodel, vehicle replacements, road improvements

The purchase means the county now owns all but one unit in the building and allows the county to remodel the building for a more efficient use of space for offices and storage.

It will “enhance the efficiency of our downtown campus,” Commissioner Jane Weber said during the Jan. 31 work session.

The county was accepting bids for architectural services for the building’s remodel until last week.

Brian Clifton, county public works director, said that since the building’s original construction, two additions were added creating a haphazard layout, false walls, stairways to nowhere and an otherwise inefficient space.

The plan is to have the architect design a complete remodel of the building to improve the layout and efficiency of space, since the county consistency has office space constraints, Clifton said.

Construction on the remodel would start at the earliest this fall, but more likely next year and Clifton said the remodel would be factored into the next budget, which would be approved this fall.