Paris leaders are ready to create a new chapter for the former City Hall complex on South Main Street.

Last month, the Paris Board of Alderman approved a process to open bids for the purchase of the site, with a deadline of 5 p.m. on June 27 for the bids to be submitted. All bids will be unsealed during the board’s regular monthly meeting on July 2.

This property is currently zoned residential, but the city would like to see investors develop the site as a commercial area.

“It would be great to see a development that would add to our sales tax base,” said City Administrator Barb McCall.

McCall said that bids need to include purchase price, estimated closing window and a business plan explaining long-term benefits the city.

“Terms will include purpose of the proposed use on the lot and timeline to develop the business or industry,” read the posting soliciting the bids, adding the city officials reserve the right to reject all offers.

The bids close a 90-year chapter for the city of Paris. The site was developed and built during the Great Depression as part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Public Works Administration (PWA) in the 1930s as the Paris High School, later becoming the Paris Junior High School.

The city of Paris moved into the building in 2005 after purchasing it from Paris Schools for $10. A consultant’s study in 2018 painted a dire picture for the

building, finding significant structural issues, such as the roof over the main building. Each time it rained, city staff members had to place plastic tubs on the second floor to capture the water that cascaded through the porous structure.

The consultants estimated that the city would need to spend between $2 million and $4 million to either raze or replace the building, both amounts far exceeding what the city of 1,200 residents could afford.

After the Board of Alderman made the decision in late 2019 to relocate City Hall to an existing city building and raze city hall.

McCall credits then-City Administrator Lisa Hollingsworth with devising a plan to sue city staff and select contractors to demolish the building, coming in at a total cost of under $100,000.

“Lisa did a great job of watching after the taxpayers of Paris,” McCall said. “I a looking forward to an exciting new chapter for our city.”