Huddleston Offers Chase Bank Building to YMCA
The story was online for nearly eight hours before I noticed it, but Steve Brown of The Dallas Morning News reported this morning that Albert Huddleston is offering to lease the Chase Bank building to the Park Cities YMCA.
For the uninitiated, Huddleston and University Park City Hall have been at loggerheads for years over his plans for the vacant building at Hillcrest and Daniel avenues, just south of Snider Plaza. Brown reports that Huddleston wants the city to sell him an alley on the property as part of the YMCA deal, and a quick search of our archives shows that alley has been a sticking point before.
I planned to call Greg Pappas, executive director of the Park Cities YMCA, to ask if Huddleston’s offer was unsolicited. But just as I was getting ready to dial his number, he emailed me a statement from the YMCA of Metropolitan Dallas. I’ve bolded the most interesting part:
The Park Cities YMCA is currently working diligently to raise capital funds so that construction can begin on the wonderful new facility recently approved by the City of University Park that will better serve the burgeoning needs of the families of the Park Cities community. At the same time, the Y is also working toward a plan to minimize disruption to the members and the community it serves to locate convenient interim space during the construction period. Several viable options are being carefully considered at this time and will continue to be vetted. Unfortunately, the owner of one of the sites under consideration, the former Chase Bank building in Park Cities, has chosen to reveal sensitive business negotiations prematurely at this time. The Park Cities YMCA will continue to explore many options and will keep the members and community apprised as interim plans are developed.
After reading that, I don’t think YMCA officials are going to take Huddleston up on his offer.
