News Flash

PURCELLVILLE, Va. February 2, 2017 — In late January, the Town of Purcellville successfully sold a Town asset located at 781 S. 20^th Street to The Good Shepherd Alliance. The Town purchased this property in 1971 which is located on the site of the previous maintenance building and wastewater treatment plant. Both of these operations were subsequently transferred to a proffered site south of the existing location.

More than a decade ago, The Good Shepherd Alliance approached the Town about taking this older tenant house and renovating it at no cost to the Town’s taxpayers. The Town entered into a lease agreement where The Good Shepherd Alliance created Mary’s House of Hope and operated this facility for more than ten years before purchasing it in January 2017. According to Vickie Koth, Executive Director of The Good Shepherd Alliance, “We sincerely appreciate the support of the Town of Purcellville over the last ten years. The use of this home has allowed us to assist many single mothers at Mary’s House of Hope to regain their self-sufficiency. Addressing the specific needs and barriers of each family is essential to the long term success as no two families are alike.”

At this location, The Good Shepherd Alliance has helped many mothers transition to successfully owning their own homes with their children, learning new life and parenting skills, improving their employment opportunities, learning to budget, saving money and paying down debt, stabilizing their transportation, and finding affordable long term housing.

Under this purchase agreement, the Town of Purcellville was able to sell the residence located at 781 S. 20^th Street to The Good Shepherd Alliance for $300,000. The Good Shepherd Alliance was able to purchase the home with the help of a Loudoun County Housing Funds Grant/Loan Program, which will allow them to continue this transitional housing program in Purcellville. The Town was able to monetize a previously non-performing asset, and the funds will be put into reserves for future projects.

According to Mayor Fraser, “I commend the Town Council and our management team for successfully closing on the sale of this property which was on our books for multiple years and generated no substantial revenue over that period of time. This sale exemplifies our continued commitment to monetize underperforming assets to realize recurring and non-recurring cash flow to address our debt burden. We would also like to thank The Good Shepherd Alliance for making substantial improvements to the property over the years and now purchasing it from the Town to continue their mission of assisting single mothers in need.”

The Town is continuing this program with current negotiations with Makersmiths to lease an adjacent parcel that was used as the old maintenance building. It is expected that the Makersmiths will take possession of this property under a lease agreement sometime in early spring.