Pike School of Art-Mississippi is proposing to purchase the old Pike County Juvenile Detention Center and McComb City Jail on Front Street from the City of McComb.
Calvin Phelps, who has been leasing the shuttered jail for from the city for $1 a year for the past four years for the art school, approached McComb officials about the potential purchase at their Tuesday work session.
If he is able to purchase the facility from the city, Phelps told the board McComb would no longer have to pay the costs to maintain and insure the building, and he would be able to apply for funding that’s otherwise not available, including a Building Fund for the Arts grant from the Mississippi Arts Commission.
Phelps said he welcomed the opportunity to discuss insurance issues with the board.
“I do want to let the board know that part of that facility is a storage for our records,” Mayor Quordiniah Lockley said. “If we sell it, then we’re going to have to move all those records out of that building and we’re going to have to have another facility to use all of that.”
Phelps said he wasn’t interested in renovating that part of the building.
“We’re interested in renovating the front building. I believe that we would be able to offer the city a substantial amount of time to find space for those records,” he said.
Responding to a query from Selectman Matt Codding, Phelps said he would be willing to lease part of the building back to the city.
“You all have been very generous and leased it to us for $1 a year for 10 years so I’d be happy to talk about leasing it back to you guys,” Phelps said.
City Administrator David Myers said the building needs to be appraised so city officials will have an idea of a reasonable price for selling the facility.
“That’s something we will be able to move forward with,” he said. “This board will allow that and we’ll put it on the agenda to vote on next week.”
Myers also talked about the financial gain the city would have from selling the facility.
“If we sell it to them, we save some money and gain a little bit,” he said.
