Old American building could become arts facility

The former Hattiesburg American building on North Main Street in downtown Hattiesburg may soon have a new purpose and new tenants — if city officials can find the money to get on board with a renovation project.

During Monday's meeting of the Hattiesburg City Council, council members heard Hattiesburg Arts Council officials' proposed plans for the building, which has been vacant since Hattiesburg American employees moved in summer 2014 to the current facility on Mamie Street off South 40th Avenue. Under the proposition, Hattiesburg physician David McKellar, the owner of the building, would donate the 35,000-square-foot building to the city to be used for arts purposes.

If and when council accepts the offer of ownership, HAC officials would ask the city to pay about $1.2 million over the next three years to help turn the building into a new Center for Community Arts Education.

"We're not asking you to pay for a one-time, hand-clapping performance or a one-day festival," HAC executive director Rebekah Stark Johnson told the council. "We're asking you to invest in daily and weekly activities that rejuvenate the untapped and under-utilized creativity that exists in Hattiesburg."

If everything goes according to plan, the Center for Community Arts Education would feature an art gallery/gift shop, classrooms, smART space, arts business incubator and a theater, among other offerings.

"The building is just already amazingly laid out in great fashion for this type of facility," said Sarah Newton, senior associate architect with Albert & Associates Architects. "I don't think we've ever had a project that utilized so many existing walls, in doing something so fundamentally different from what it originally served as."

The project would take place in three phases, starting in fiscal year 2017 and ending in 2026, and would cost a total of about $5 million over that time.

"We're asking the city to pay for renovation expenses in all three phases — maintenance and repair to the building, property and liability insurance, building utilities and ground maintenance," Johnson said. "The city will also need to provide Hattiesburg Arts Council with a long-term contractual lease agreement with minimal payment to be determined, as well as additional funding for support staff, especially during the first eight years."

Council president Kim Bradley said council members will mull the issue over and decide the matter at a future meeting.

"The idea is great, and it would be awesome to have a facility like that in downtown Hattiesburg," he said. "We are a very artsy downtown, a very artsy city, and this would be a great complement to what we do.

"We've just got to figure a way. They're looking for a commitment of about $1.2 million over the next three years from the city government, and honestly I don't know how we would pay for that at this time. I need someone to tell me what the proposal is, what the thought is, on how we would pay for that."

City council will reconvene Tuesday, when they are expected to vote on, among other things:

•Whether to adopt a resolution declaring certain equipment as surplus. The resolution also would authorize the sale of the equipment at auction, and remove it from the city's inventory of the Parks and Recreation Department.

•Whether to authorize and approve Mayor Johnny DuPree to apply for funding and submit a 2016 Recreational Trails Program Application for the amount of $96,551.84.

•Whether to adopt a resolution setting a public hearing at 4 p.m. April 4 to determine if certain properties are in such a state of uncleanliness so as to be a menace to the health and safety of the community.