The City of Great Falls is moving forward with its plan to sell the former Community Recreation Center at 801 2nd Ave. N.

City Manager Greg Doyon walked commissioners through the sale process during their Sept. 2 work session.

He said the city retained McKay-Rowen Associates for $4,200 to perform the appraisal.

Using that, Doyon said staff intends to set the minimum bid at $800,000 and follow process detailed in city code to sell the property that was formerly called the DeMolay Memorial Building.

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“As the commission knows, this process is a little clumsy,” Doyon said. “I really don’t like this portion of the code.”

Doyon has asked the city attorney’s office to review the code for possible revisions for clarity.

He said the city has been criticized in the past about its process for the sale, lease or trade of city-owned property.

As the city was building the new Aim High Big Sky aquatic center, Doyon said he was planning to close the Rec Center since the facilities were being combined in the new building in Lions Park.

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Early on, Doyon said, they considered retaining the old Rec Center to lease a revenue source, but after further consideration and needs, it’s “probably just best that the city disposes of that building.”

He said the city doesn’t make that decision lightly and discusses it with departments to to ensure there’s no future city use for the property.

Doyon told commissioners he was asking them to allow him, by consensus, to issue the request for bids and then make a decision based on the response.

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There’s a tenant in the building currently who is aware the city is putting it out to bid, he said, and anticipates that party would submit a bid, but there would be other interest.

To sell city property, the code requires that the city take the highest responsible bid, with few exceptions, and a four-fifths affirmative vote by commissioners after a public hearing.

Parkland would require a recommendation from the Park and Recreation Advisory Board, but Doyon said he doesn’t think that applies in this case.

The commission could require a development agreement for the sale, but Doyon isn’t recommending that in this case.

Commissioner Joe McKenney, who is a real estate agent, said that the city could hire an agent to sell the property but that has an additional cost and since the city also has a legal department, it would be appropriate to sell the property itself without an agent.

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Commissioners, by consensus, said staff should move forward with the process of drafting a request for bids.

The Rec Center is currently leased by the Community Early Education Center, a local company.

The lease was initially approved in January 2023 through Dec. 31 for $1,500 monthly.

Commissioners approved a lease with A Child’s World LLC in January 2023 for certain areas of the building to operate a daycare and included access to the outside play area and gymnasium upon availability.

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In June 2023, commissioners approved an amendment to the lease agreement for A Child’s World to expand its current location on the first and second floors for an additional 58 cents per square foot.

In October 2023, Commissioners ratified a merger agreement between A Child’s World and Community Early Education Center, which is the surviving entity.

After that, the Community Early Education Center wanted to expand to provide more jobs and childcare programming and in January 2024, commissioners approved a second amendment to the lease agreement.

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That amendment added leased space on the main floor for $850 monthly for kitchen space and $812 monthly for the dining area.

The Community Early Education Center again wanted to expand within the city’s Rec Center and an amendment approved during the June 4, 2024 meeting gives the entity full access to the property for $7,000 monthly through the remainder of the agreement.

The childcare agency will assume the responsibility of paying all building utilities, and maintain and repair the building at its own expense.

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All of the other terms and conditions of the January 2023 contract remained in effect.

The city has had an agreement with A Child’s World since November 2003 for use of certain areas in the Rec Center.