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City council rejects purchase of West Theater, administration to revisit offered price

The West Theater doesn’t belong to the City of Galesburg…yet.

Galesburg Aldermen said no deal last night on a proposal to buy the former West Theater on South Prairie Street for $10,000.

Aldermen generally agreed that they would like to see the building bought, torn down and re-purposed design of Park Plaza but that amount was too high for their liking.

Michael Spinks who owns the building paid $100 for the theater a year ago.

City Manager Todd Thompson said that Spinks had spent about $1,800 but he didn’t believe any of that was on building improvements.

Council voted no on an amendment to offer Spinks $100 for the property, and they also voted no, this time unanimously, on the $10,000 price.

Mayor John Pritchard tried to make it clear that the building is beyond “economic recovery.”

“Short term we can acquire the building or long term we’ll end up acquiring the building,” Pritchard says. “The  question is will it be of use to our park project.”

Administration will revisit the purchasing price with Spinks and another contract agreement for council is possible in the future, although there is some timetable with Park Plaza renovations set for the summer.

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