TAMPA - For years, Tampa General Hospital officials have wanted to buy the parking garage adjacent to their building from the city of Tampa.
Now they have an administration willing to entertain an offer.
"Nothing has been settled yet, but we are in negotiations with TGH," Mayor Pam Iorio said Tuesday.
Conversations about the sale began about a year ago, Iorio said. An appraisal put the value of the garage at $29-million, she said.
There are advantages for the city, she said. Selling it would let Tampa pay off bonds and, possibly, build a garage in the north Franklin Street or Ashley Street areas, parts of downtown Iorio considers a redevelopment priority.
It also would allow Tampa General to control its parking plans and set rates as other major hospitals do, Iorio said.
The parking garage was built when TGH was a city hospital. It hasn't always been a moneymaker for the city, but now generates about $1.2-million a year, Iorio said.
Still, the garage needs repairs and the city has more pressing parking needs.
"We have wanted to own this garage for quite some time," said hospital spokesman John Dunn. "It just makes sense. A lot of people think we own it already."
He said the hospital originally approached Dick Greco when he was mayor about buying the garage, which is used largely by TGH employees, physicians, patients and visitors.
"At that time, they were not particularly interested in selling the garage," he said.
TGH is conducting parking and traffic studies as part of a planned 280,000-square-foot, $120-million expansion. But Dunn and Iorio said the purchase of the garage won't affect those efforts.
"We've made it very clear to TGH through all of this that this is a stand-alone agreement between the city and TGH," Iorio said. "It does not relate to any future plans they might have."
If an agreement is reached, the sale would need approval of the TGH board and the Tampa City Council.
