Coryell County under contract for former PenFed CU building in Copperas Cove

By LYNETTE SOWELL

Cove Leader-Press

The Coryell County tax office as well as the Early Voting Center in Copperas Cove will be under one roof in the future.

On Nov. 1, Coryell County commissioners held a special meeting during which they authorized the county attorney to put in an offer to purchase the former PenFed Credit Union building, at 809 S. Main St. in Copperas Cove. The commissioners also approved putting up $25,000 in earnest money on the property.

The timetable for the closing on the South Main Street property in Copperas Cove isn’t known at this time, nor the renovation timetable. However, county officials had been searching for a place in Copperas Cove to purchase that could house both facilities and also offer adequate parking.

The county has budgeted $600,000 for the property to include purchase offer of $500,000 and also to renovate the just over 3,500-square-foot building for the county’s needs.

At a workshop two weeks ago, Coryell County Judge Roger Miller shared with the commissioners funding sources identified within the county’s budget that add up to about $480,000. The county recently sold a vacant lot in Gatesville, close to the downtown courthouse, and Miller said he anticipated that with the sale of more county properties, it could potentially make up the difference in funding for the facility in Copperas Cove.

However, there could be the potential of the county taking out a short-term loan, such as 12 months, to fund the gap to pay for the Copperas Cove facility.

Miller said that the sale of county property could be held in an escrow account, and any financing would not affect the rate for taxpayers, when asked about if any of the facility costs might be passed on to county taxpayers.

The Coryell County tax office located in Cove Terrace Shopping Center is not facing closure on Dec. 31, 2024 after all, as previously reported.

At a prior facilities workshop, it was stated that the lease ended for the Copperas Cove tax office on Dec. 31 and the lease ended for the early voting center in February 2025.

However, Coryell County Tax Assessor-Collector Justin Carothers confirmed the lease dates for the Copperas Cove facilities. He said the lease dates are opposite of what Miller told the court.

Carothers said the tax office lease expires in February 2025, and he is awaiting a 12-month extension from the owners of the shopping center.

The early voting center will close after Dec. 31, in accordance with the terms of that lease. Carothers said his understanding is that the shopping center wants to turn that side of the center into more storage. California-based Public Storage owns the shopping center after purchasing it in late 2022.