The sale of the National Guard armory to the City of Hamilton is a bad deal for the residents and businesses of Hamilton and the City should walk away from it.
The price that has been set by the State of Montana to the City for that property is $1,200,000 and the State will accept no less than that. That price is based entirely on an appraisal in which the State’s appraiser stated he could find no comparable real estate transaction to establish the market value in all his research. His appraisal estimate was based on his speculation about the present value of future development of the site, and rental rates in the area. The State’s appraiser ignored the sale by the Hamilton School District of the Grantsdale School property in 2014, for $177,000, willing buyer/willing seller. The Grantsdale School is less than four miles from the Armory, and the two properties are alike in terms of the quality and size to the established buildings and open land.
When I talked to the appraiser on Wednesday, I asked him why he didn’t use the school property as a comparable sale, and his only answer was “I didn’t think it was comparable.” That’s not good enough!
The City should tell the State that their price is unrealistic. The City has actively campaigned for this project, and plans to take on unprecedented debt to pay for it. The project has moved up in priority over needed improvements in safe and secure drinking water and less pollution of the Bitterroot River from treated sewage.
There is still time for the Hamilton City Council to reconsider the costs and benefits of this project, and vote to table it.
Robert Sutherland
Hamilton