The Bismarck Parks and Recreation District Board on Tuesday gave its executive director the OK to negotiate a purchase offer with the Florida ownership of the Palace Arms Hotel, listed at $999,900.

If a deal for the building - determined in a recent site location study to be a top site for a proposed Bismarck arts and science pavilion - is reached, the board will have to hold a special meeting to OK the deal. Steve Neu, executive director, hopes that happens before the end of the year.

"I'd love it," he said.

He told the board the district has funds available for earnest money. And after the meeting, he told the Tribune that the district has the flexibility - is capable of financing or borrowing funds - to take care of the rest of the purchase. But the understanding is that the district isn't the only player here, too.

At Tuesday's board meeting, the parks board also voted to enter into a partnership with the arts and science pavilion group spearheading the effort, which includes a board headed by interim president Dick Weber.

A formal on-paper agreement of who has what responsibilities in the partnership hasn't been done yet. Neu said after the meeting that the creation of that agreement will be done simultaneously with the negotiation process.

But both Neu and Tim Mueller, board president, expressed confidence that the pavilion group and board would come through with grants and other funds just like groups have in past partnerships that the district has been involved with - such as Cottonwood Park, Capitol Racquet and the archery range.

"Partnerships have been very successful in this community … They've done more than pull their weight," Mueller said about the contributions of local groups in past projects.

Mueller said the parks district want to be involved in this project because 50 percent of what the district does is active recreation, and the pavilion project would be a chance to increase and improve opportunities for active recreation.

"It's an exciting endeavor," he said.

The vacant hotel near Memorial Bridge in the 1200 block of West Main Avenue - which, in its heyday was a Holiday Inn built in 1962 - was determined by local architect Warren Tvenge to be one of the two top sites for the proposed Bismarck Arts and Science Pavilion.

In his May study, Tvenge estimated the cost of purchasing and building the pavilion there would be about $12.36 million - which includes about $900,000 to demolish the old hotel.

According to city records Friday, the hotel, vacant since December 2001, is still owned by Wachovia Bank, c/o Interbay Funding, which has a Coral Gables, Fla., street address.

Pavilion supporters are hoping to build a 90,000-square-foot facility to enable arts organizations and the Gateway to Science Center to move out of their self-described cramped and inefficient quarters in various locations and into one space.

In addition, Neu and Weber have talked about making the pavilion into a lifelong learning center offering classes for children and adults. Neu says he envisions something like the City Museum in St. Louis, which is four stories of creative activities and classes.

In Tvenge's study - a feasibility and site study, funded with $50,000 of Bismarck sales tax money - out of 16 sites, the two top sites were the Palace Arms Hotel site east of Memorial Bridge and an 11-acre north Bismarck lot at the southwest corner of Century and Interstate avenues.