A two-story red brick building and a handful of other dilapidated structures sit mostly unused along the busy stretch of South Lake Drive that connects downtown Lexington to Interstate 20. Besides the town’s parks department workers who frequent the old water plant, the 3.5 acre plot doesn’t draw much attention.
As the town of around 25,000 people has seen its downtown area spring up in the last few years — with a host of new restaurants, breweries and a town-funded amphitheater — officials could set aside funds to turn the property owned by the town into a new park.
While still in the earliest stages, Lexington leaders have circled the plant, which houses some of the town’s parks department staff, as a possible candidate for $5.5 million in renovations paid for by the fees the town collects from developers to fund infrastructure and capital improvement projects. The renovations could include building a park on the property and moving all parks department staff to a new headquarters there…