Finance Committee Approves Property Sale For Museum

The Cheyenne City Council Finance Committee on Monday voted in favor of selling 22 square feet of city-owned property on West Lincolnway for the proposed Children's Museum of Cheyenne.

The issue now goes on to the full city council. The sale would allow for the construction of the museum in the downtown property commonly referred to as "the hole", which has been a vacant lot since a fire destroyed a business that had been located there a decade ago.

The museum group already owns most of the lot, but wants to purchase the portion owned by the city to  help in fundraising efforts.

At Monday's meeting local Realtor Jim Weaver, representing the owner of the adjacent Hynds Building, said there are still concerns about what role the building will play in the museum, adding the property owner would like some kind of language at least mentioning the Hynds.

Museum Board President Amy Surdam said the museum group had received a proposed memorandum of understanding on the issue  before the meeting, adding the two groups were continuing to discuss the issue.

Surdam says the museum group hopes to open the facility in 2017.

The  property has been appraised at $70,000. The proposed sale would allow the museum group to purchase it for $100 in keeping with a development agreement between the city and the museum.