The City of Owensboro has yet to finalize an agreement for the purchase of Gabe’s Tower after announcing its intent to buy the property for $360,000 in mid-April.
Although current owner Robert Zimmerman agreed to the City’s terms regarding the purchase agreement, City Manager Nate Pagan said the delay lies with the tower’s current owner.
“He has a mortgage on the property, so it’s just getting the mortgage release paperwork worked out with the folks that he purchased the tower from,” Pagan said.
Zimmerman bought the property from a development group out of Pennsylvania in 2017. He told media and city officials that he planned to turn the deteriorating hotel into low-income housing for military veterans, but has not been able to finance the project since the purchase. He turned down the City’s last proposal to purchase Gabe’s Tower for $300,000.
Pagan told Owensboro Times in April that there were conditions to the agreement with current Gabe’s Tower owner Robert Zimmerman. Pagan said Zimmerman must provide the property to the City with a clean title, clearing up existing liens and he must also drop the lawsuit he has waged against the City and all related parties.
Zimmerman was suing the City as well as current and former employees in federal court. He alleges that Owensboro Police Department wrongfully arrested him twice in 2017 for trespassing at Gabe’s Tower, where he claimed to have a rental agreement with the hotel’s former owners. The City has maintained that it was not aware of that agreement. Zimmerman has agreed to drop the suit as a part of the purchase agreement.
Pagan said once the City acquires the property, they will demolish the building. Officials do not have a current estimated cost for demolishing the 13-story former hotel, but Pagan said previous estimates put the demolition costs between $700,00 and $800,000.
According to Pagan, a timeline for demolition has not been established and there are no plans for the property.
“We don’t know what the long-term use will be, but we have a couple things in mind,” Pagan said. “At this point the priority is to acquire the property, finally, and demolish it.”
