The Junction City Commission meeting in a special session has voted 5-0 to accept a proposal from Florence Manufacturing to occupy the former Jupiter building in the I-70 Industrial Park.

Florence Manufacturing produces community mailboxes, also including some for colleges and businesses, and new modernized mailboxes.  The City has accepted their proposal over one from Mechanized Design to buy the building.

The City initially planned to negotiate with Mechanized Design, but Commissioner Mick McCallister said they decided last week that their offer to buy the facility was too low, and it was in the community’s best interest not to sell it at that price.

“Florence was still interested in leasing the building so their lease offer was still a good offer. It was for three years. At that time we could sell the building at the end of three years, or we could sell it anytime during that three years. So what it boiled down to was what was in the best interest to the citizens. The three-year lease was better than a five-year lease or a five-year with an option with another five years. We didn’t want to get into the leasing business for up to 10 years. We want to lease it for three years and then sell it.”

McCallister added it was his understanding through email conversations Mechanized Design wanted to lease the building for five years with an option for another five years.

The building is appraised at $650,000. “The latest offer that we had was to sell it at $535,000. We just thought that that wasn’t in the best interest.” McCallister said the City asked for the best and final offer on two occasions. “And we made it clear that the appraised value was $650,000, that they needed to come up, and that didn’t occur.”

Jim Sands, Junction City Commissioner, said Mechanized Design wanted to purchase the building, but the purchase price was below the appraised value. He said Florence Manufacturing was ready to move in. “Bottom line is, we the commissioners think the Florence investment is the best one, and they may also be interested in purchasing this building to.”

Mechanized Design CEO Jim Schmidt informed JC Post that his company’s final offer was to do a five-year lease at $5,350 per month, and then purchase the building for $650,000,  but get a 25 percent credit back  on their rent paid, essentially reducing the purchase price to $575,000. Mechanized Design was willing to receive no property tax abatement.

Schmidt felt the appraisal was high, given the age of the building, and he added the City forgets that the building has leaks in the roof.

“We were excited because we’re a homegrown business. My wife was raised in Geary County, our kids go to Junction City school district. We’re here for life. And we were excited about being able to bring a homegrown business back to Junction City. The company was founded in Manhattan in 2013.”

Schmidt added, “We’re not left with many options. Quite frankly we’re garnering attention from neighboring municipalities. And I don’t know where that’s going to leave us. Right now we’re at a little bit of a loss as to how this all went down tonight ( Monday ) and the justification behind it.”

Mechanized Design is currently headquartered in temporary facilities on McDowell Creek Road in Riley County, while Florence Manufacturing is headquartered in Manhattan, but will now have the ability to expand into Junction City. Mechanized Design would have used the Jupiter building as a production site for precision agriculture equipment, specifically an auto probe which helps farm users make education decisions on inputs for products.