City government’s footprint in downtown Bowling Green expanded Tuesday night as commissioners voted unanimously to purchase the building at 903 College St., commonly known as the old BB&T Bank building, for $1.25 million.

Brent Childers, head of Neighborhood and Community Services, told the Daily News the plan is to fix the building up and then find an outside investor to redevelop the structure, which has been used for storage in recent years.

“It’s a strategic piece of property for our downtown,” Childers said. “We see this as an opportunity to take a piece of property that has been sitting there and put it back into productive use.”

The building at 903 College St. was constructed right after the Civil War and has played host to a number of different local businesses and entities throughout its life. From the 1880s until 1925, the building was home to the Potter Opera House (later known as the Bowling Green Opera House). Fires on two separate occasions tore through the structure.

It was purchased by Norm Johnson in 2007. Over the past few years the building’s future has been in limbo, as different projects eyed for the site have fallen through.

A $1.46 million purchase option was signed by the Downtown Redevelopment Authority in July 2024, with hopes to redevelop the building. The DRA was so serious that in addition to the purchase option, an architecture firm in Nashville was hired to explore opportunities with the 22,800 square-foot building.

Things did not pan out and the DRA’s purchase option expired. When the purchase option was first signed, some estimates from the DRA put interior repairs at the $10 million mark.

City government’s repairs will likely be limited to new roofing and some electrical work. Estimates for roof repairs place the cost at roughly $70,000. However, the city will not be the ones redeveloping the structure.

“I see somebody else coming in and deciding what is the intended use, and then they’re putting that money and making that investment to make that project a reality,” Childers said.

The city expects to close on the building in March. Childers said for six months after closing, the building will be rented back to Johnson at $100 per month so items inside the property can be cleaned out.

Childers said there are no plans for the city to demolish the bank building.

“The bones are there, the structure is there,” he said.

Similar action was taken with the historic Southern Queen hotel building in Shake Rag a few years ago. The property was purchased by the city and was later sold to local developer Desmond Bell.

The bank building marks the second piece of downtown real estate the city has purchased over the past year.

The U.S. Bank building at 500 E. Main Ave. was purchased by the city in September for $2.5 million. The city plans to use a portion of U.S. Bank as a temporary home for some city offices while upgrades are made to the cramped City Hall Campus.

Commissioners Tuesday also approved a local state of emergency related to the Jan. 20-28 snow and ice storm.

Commissioners will meet again Feb. 17.