AUSTIN, Texas — The City of Austin could buy the property that used to be the Salvation Army's downtown homeless shelter.
City council is set to discuss spending $15 million on it at a meeting on Nov. 9. The shelter closed this spring.
The shelter on East Eighth Street went up for sale earlier this year. Officials with the Salvation Army blamed funding issues for the closure.
Last month, the Salvation Army approved a one-year lease with the city so the city can operate the building as an emergency shelter, starting July 1.
Up until this year, the Salvation Army had operated the downtown shelter since 1988.
The property would include two buildings and a parking lot, as well as a 1,500 square-foot retail building at 718 Red River St. and a parking lot at 700 Red River St., according to KVUE’s news partners at the Austin-American Statesman.
"If approved, this purchase would allow for the reestablishment of that critical service on a long-term basis, save funding allocated for the remaining term of the lease authorized by Council on June 8, 2023, and allow the City to fully realize the benefit of building repairs currently being made to the facility," a memo from Michael Gates, the city’s real estate officer, said.
The Travis County Central Appraisal District valued the shelter building alone at $12.5 million. That’s up from nearly $10.7 million last year.
"Staff moved immediately to provide Council an opportunity to acquire the property and preserve the downtown shelter space provided by the former Salvation Army Downtown Center," according to the city memo.