The Cotton Belt Building at 1517 West Front Street in Tyler. (File photo) 

Smith County officials are planning to consider the future of a government building in Tyler that has seen thousands of dollars in repairs in recent years.

The Smith County Commissioners Court is planning to “receive consultation and seek legal advice regarding the purchase, lease or value of the Cotton Belt Building” on Tuesday.

The Commissioners Court will discuss the issue in an executive session at the end of its regular meeting at 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday in the Smith County Courthouse Annex building at 200 E. Ferguson St.

An executive session is a type of confidential meeting that the Texas Open Meetings Act allows government officials to hold while complying with the law in certain circumstances. Smith County Judge Nathaniel Moran declined an interview on the Cotton Belt Building.

The Cotton Belt Building at 1517 W. Front St. dates back to the 1950s, when the St. Louis Southwestern Railroad built it for office space. Smith County bought the property in 1985.

The one-story building is 98,668 square feet and sits on just over three acres of land, according to the Smith County Appraisal District. The building and land together had an appraised value of $990,399 in 2018. 

The building is currently home to the Smith County Tax Office, the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles and the Twelfth Court of Appeals, a state appeals court that serves the Tyler area, among other offices.  

The Commissioners Court has eyed the building for repairs or new tenants for years.

In May of 2017, the court approved spending about $194,000 to repair the Cotton Belt Building’s roof. At the time, a portion of the roof had been being used for six years past its usable life.

In October of 2017, Moran said it would be important to repair the Cotton Belt Building so it would be workable for current tenants and could be rented out in the future. Commissioner Cary Nix also said repairs would help attract new tenants to the building, which was 75 percent vacant at the time.

In April, the court hired an engineering firm to create a new request for proposals so it could put a repair project out to bid. The county was seeking to have the building waterproofed, have the windows sealed off and have a contractor do exterior work to make the building more attractive.

A full copy of the Smith County Commissioners Court agenda is available at TylerPaper.com.

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