GULF SHORES, Ala. — The city has agreed to buy a 5,800-square-foot building and property just south of the municipal annex buildings for $533,000.

Gulf Shores had been pondering buying the property for a new Justice Center it hopes to build in the next few years, but it turned out to be too small for the purpose.

“The bank contacted the city just before the end of the year and they said they needed to get rid of it,” Director of Recreation and Cultural Affairs Grant Brown said. “They said it was imperative they get it off of their books.

“So they asked the city to reconsider the purchase and for us to make them an offer and we were able to purchase the property at a very good price which made it possible for us to have the property and put it to the city’s use. And there is a positive to be able to utilize the building right away.”

Brown said for now his department will use the space for expansion of programs.

“We have a strong need for expanding programs such as our after-school program, our summer camp programs,” he said. “We’d like to start doing some type of art classes and such that people have to have space in a classroom-style location to start a project, be able to get up and leave the project at a certain point and come back and not have to clean it up every single time we’re done, which is what we have to do now.”

In the past many programs were spread out across several facilities, Brown said.

“With the after-school programs at the rec center we utilize outside fields, we go to the tennis center, we really don’t have a home base,” he said. “In the short term the building itself will make good sense and good use for the programs the city wants to continue to grow and expand.”

Also, Brown said, the new space may offer the chance to introduce new programs.

“It will also give us an opportunity to try some types of programs to see how successful they’re going to be, how they will be received and responded to,” he said. “It’s kind of a win-win.

“The property is a necessary piece of property for the future. And in the short term the use of that building will be an excellent opportunity to expand our programs and provide better locations for services for some of our existing programs and expansion programs.”

Brown said the property first piqued the city’s interest when it was used during a press conference with U.S. Rep. Jo Bonner, R-Mobile, Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Mobile and Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange to protest negotiations on oil spill fines.

“We were looking for a location to hold that press conference that was sort of indicative of the BP oil spill, the problems it created,” Brown said. “That building was one of the problems. That building was used for a period of time as a BP claims office. They just had a hard time, there was no tenant for that building and it was eventually foreclosed on. It was one of the casualties of the BP oil spill and was an example of the type of casualties that we experienced around the city.”

The property caught city officials’ attention again when a group came to town to assess the future needs of the police department.

“We are in need for construction of a justice center,” Brown said. “The plan is to take the existing police station – we’ve hired a consultant to come in and do some planning of what a justice center would look like – as it turns out that piece of property was too small for a justice center. So we basically took the acquisition of that property off the table.”

When the bank contacted the city again, the city’s offer was accepted.

The city expects to close the sale of the property by the end of the month, provided it passes an inspection. It has about 15 separate offices is on 1.6 acres, south of Hancock Bank and Clubhouse Drive and has about 240 feet on highway 59.