City Considering Purchase of “the hole”

The Cheyenne City Council is considering authorizing Mayor Rick Kaysen to negotiate the purchase of the remaining two-thirds of a property on West Lincolnway, commonly known as 'the hole", that is not already city-owned. The site was once home to a bake shop, but has sat vacant since a 2004 fire destroyed that business as well as a neighboring building. The burned out site has long been considered a major eyesore, and Kaysen says one problem has been that the split ownership of the property has prevented any development of the area. Kaysen says if the city owns the entire property it should open up some development opportunities

. The mayor says there is the possibility that some sort of partnership between the public and private sectors might be used to fund a project on the site if a purchase becomes final. The mayor says that since there has not been any assessment of the value of the property for several years it's difficult to say how much it might cost to purchase the property. The part of the property that is not  city owned is owned by a Kansas company.