(Seguin) — A pair of former Seguin ISD facilities may soon be in the hands of the city of Seguin. Seguin City Manager Steve Parker shares more behind the city’s interest in the former Saegert Middle School tennis courts and maintenance buildings located at 418 W. Mountain St.
The Seguin ISD Board of Trustees recently voted 4 to 3 to allow the district to proceed in the sale and negotiation of the property to the city. The buildings are said to be in disrepair and no longer needed by the district for instructional purposes.The property is described as a 1.1-acre tract which has a fenced tennis court area. According to documents, the district found that the maintenance building once belonged to the city and was used as its utilities department. With the confirmation of this sale, that property will go back to the city.
At this time, Parker says potential plans are to create a future home for the popular and growing sport of pickleball.
“We are also being approached by pickleball users. Right now, we have tennis courts down at the parks and rec complex that are being used by both the pickleball players and the tennis players and pickleball is becoming such an amazing sport and catching on really quickly. We already had the base there to maybe convert some of those tennis courts there at Saegert into pickleball. So, that was kind of our thinking from the beginning — have some more minis for the community, clean-up an area of town that can really use a face-lift and make a move there. Then, there’s the facilities where the warehouse facilities are just behind the tennis courts there at Saegert which are kind of old and run down. The city is actually working with the
Federation of Advanced Manufacturers to find a training center maybe here in town so that can be a logistical spot for that but at the end of the day, whatever we decide to do with it formally, it’s just an opportunity to clean-up a part of town that could really use a face-lift,” said Parker.
The property has a fair market value of $133,000. The purchase price by the city, however, is said to exceed that amount but that amount was not disclosed as part of the negotiation process. The potential dollar amount for the district was reportedly among the top reasons that three of the trustees voted against the sale to the city. Some thought that with properties in high demand right now, that perhaps the district could get more money by opening up the opportunity to others.
Those voting against the item were Carl Jenkins, Ben Amador and Alejandro Guerra.Meanwhile, the consensus among the rest of the board was that by selling to the city, it could at least know that there would be careful consideration as to how the property would be used especially since it sits next door to the current main Saegert campus which currently serves as the district’s Discipline Alternative School.
Parker says he’s excited about the partnership and reassures the public that the city will create a new and exciting space for that section of town.
“If it doesn’t work out for fame, maybe we end up selling it or converting it into something else but the city will ultimately be in control of it and determine what’s the best use and so it was just a great win — really appreciate the school board and the administration for having a win-win for the community and do what is in the best interest for the community and I think it’s going to be a great project and we are excited to do it and the best thing is it really doesn’t cost the taxpayers any funds because we are using American
Rescue Act dollars to do that so that was one of the items that the council was really in favor of — of using those dollars because it does support outdoor activities and possibly even a training center for
Advanced Manufacturing here in Seguin,” said Parker.
The approval to continue the sale of the property with the city of Seguin was agreed to during a recent meeting of the Seguin ISD Board of Trustees.