By A.J. Kaufman, Managing Editor
Washington County Commissioners voted 12-1 in late April to move forward with purchasing part of the former Citi Solutions Center building in Gray for $4.5 million.
Current plans are to move the Gray Branch of Washington County Library into roughly 15,000-square feet of the 81,000 square-foot building.
“Right now, we are working through the process of determining the library’s needs,” Washington County Mayor Joe Grandy told the Business Journal in May, then explained that the County is performing due diligence on the building, including review of space utilization and its heating and cooling systems.
“We are considering leasing some portion of the space to other government entities in the community for public use so we are putting out a Request for Information (RFI) to see who may be interested,” the mayor added.
Blackburn, Childers & Steagall PLC purchased 55,000 square feet with plans to consolidate its Johnson City and Kingsport offices under one roof in Gray.
Other portions of the former call center will be remodeled and leased. Northeast State Community College’s culinary program, if approved, could be housed in the building. First Tennessee Development District also has expressed interest in potentially moving its headquarters and other departments to the property located on Sid Martin Road.
After several decades, Citigroup closed operations at the Gray site two years ago and relocated to Johnson City.
