City of Amarillo’s Local Government Corporation recommends selling of downtown real estate

AMARILLO, Texas (KFDA) - Amarillo Local Government Corporation approved the recommendation for city council to approve a contract for a portion of downtown real estate.

“The LGC, Local Government Corporation Board, today, considered a recommendation to city council to sell a portion of the parking garage which consists of the 22,000 square feet of retail commercial space,” said Deputy City Manager for the City of Amarillo Andrew Freeman.

The contract is for the commercial building section of the downtown parking garage located on South Buchanan.

“This is an opportunity to get a private sector developer involved. They could purchase a building and they can work on their lease arrangements if they want to sell it without maybe having quite the government oversight,” said Freeman.

The City of Amarillo plans to sell it for $1.9 million to a local development company, Llano Group, LLC.

“We are excited about an opportunity to be involved in downtown, making an investment in downtown Amarillo, which we’ve not done to this point. We think the plan is solid, good economics for the city and as a developer you know, we expect it to be good economics for us,” said Partner with Llano Group, LLC, Elliot McKinney.

The city council will have it’s say on the contract by the beginning of next month.

“We expect the next steps to be that it will go to city council on Sept. 12 for their consideration. If approved, we’d work through the feasibility period. Part of this process is that it is a combined building so we’ll have to condo the structure and work through those agreements,” said Freeman.

Once it is approved by city council, it may not be long before Llano Group, LLC. becomes the owners.

“If it all goes to plan, we would hope to close on the sale by Jan. 28, 2024,” says Andrew Freeman.

It’s a step toward a continuous goal being reached for, to make downtown the best it can be.

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