By Brandi Makuski

The Stevens Point Finance Committee on Monday approved buying Mickey’s Restaurant for $87,000.

City leaders have for months been negotiating in closed session an agreement with owners of the former pizza restaurant, which closed its doors late last year. The asking price for the property was $150,000. Assessment information on the property won’t be public until the purchase deal is official later this month.

Alderman Randy Stroik said he worried about any potential contamination on the property site, saying Council Members have been fooled before.

“At one point there was concern the mall (site) was contaminated, and then all of a sudden there’s a several hundred thousands dollars to remediate the mall,” Stroik said.

City Attorney Logan Beveridge said he doesn’t expect any surprises on the site, adding an environmental study on the property had already been conducted.

“It indicated there was only a small amount of asbestos surrounding one window, so when the building is demolished it would have to be disposed of properly,” Beveridge said. “There’s also a fuel oil tank there that would have to be land-filled property, but no other contamination has been found there.”

The Stevens Point Plan Commission in January unanimously approved steps to widen the intersection, which city leaders say needs to be better aligned for improved safety, especially given the high pedestrian traffic related to nearby Madison Elementary.

Mayor Andrew Halverson said the new roadway will be designed by the city and put out for bid to area contractors, and said the project should be complete in time for the first day of the 2014-15 school year.