Purchase Miller Building
In order to secure their options, the Yellowstone County Commissioners are making an offer to purchase the Miller Building in downtown for future expansion of county departments.
In a 2 to 1 vote, on Tuesday, the commissioners voted to make an offer of $4.5 million or the appraised value and to pay a deposit of $33,750 which would be non-refundable, and applied to the purchase of the property.
The building has “a lot of upgrades and it is in good shape and accommodates all our needs,” said Commissioner John Ostlund in making the motion on Tuesday. The offer will require the seller, Norman Miller, to remove the property from the market until July, which will assure the county an option to buy it should other options fail, explained Ostlund.
Commissioner Denis Pitman said that he was not supporting the motion because ”none of this information was provided prior to this meeting … it’s not one of those things to make a decision about without notifying the public.”
He suggested that they put the matter on the agenda at their next discussion meeting and “bring it back to the meeting next week.”
Ostlund said that the motion will allow us to make an offer, “it doesn’t mean we have to buy it. It gives us an option through July.” Otherwise, should it sell, it would “leave us with zero options.”
Commissioner Don Jones, seconded the motion, saying he agreed with the offer because “this is something we have been looking at … I don’t see a path with this current building.” He also agreed that the matter should be taken up at a discussion meeting.
The commissioners announced a couple months ago that they were going to explore the possibility of purchasing two floors of the Stillwater Building, where the county is currently leasing space on the third floor. The City of Billings, too, announced that they were considering purchasing the rest of the Stillwater building, including the basement, main floor and upper two floors.
The Miller Building is a six-story, plus basement building, located on 3rd Avenue between 28th and 29th Streets, downtown. It was the former Security Trust & Savings Bank Building.
