With The Pyramid, there’s no reason for city and county governments to treat it like a fire sale.
Or a fire and brimstone sale.
Perhaps, the worst idea that’s been floated yet for the future of the city’s most iconic structure is to sell it to Cummings Street Missionary Baptist Church for $12 million, which would be just enough to cover the remaining debt service that taxpayers have to pay on the building.
While some county officials say that it’s better than leaving the building empty, it’s hard to see why. While the conventional wisdom is that Bass Pro Shops will end up in The Pyramid (particularly since the Ericson Group bowed out of the competition), even if the retailer wasn’t interested, the church idea should get a rejection notice.
After all, the church’s positive economic impact on downtown would be negligible and that was supposedly the reason that city and county governments were looking for potential tenants for The Pyramid. Because of the lack of economic positives, if city and county governments are willing to consider selling the abandoned arena to the church, the asking price should be north of $12 million.
If it ends up that the church offer is the only one on the table in three months, it’s just time to take The Pyramid off the market until there is a real market for it.
We’ve been waiting 17 years for the building to be a daily draw for downtown. We can surely wait awhile longer.
Even if the church is willing to buy The Pyramid, it’s not a godsend for city and county governments.
