The city of Key West and the School Board want to talk about a possible deal on the Glynn Archer Elementary School building, but neither group is leaping for it.

The problem: The School Board isn't sure it wants to sell the historic school, and the City Commission isn't willing to start talks to buy it until knowing the cost of renovating the 82-year-old structure into city offices.

Mayor Craig Cates on Tuesday night couldn't garner enough votes to direct the city manager to negotiate with the School Board on a price for the White Street property because some commissioners wanted more information.

Commissioner Teri Johnston said the city should wait for the results of a structural, environmental and civil engineering study of the building, which should take about six weeks.

"Do we have one solid number what it would cost to rehab Glynn Archer?" Johnston asked. "Then how on earth can we negotiate if we don't know that number? We cannot send you into negotiations until we have a number of what it would cost to bring it up to operable [condition]."

The structure now houses an elementary school with Internet connectivity, smart boards and other modern amenities. The school system's plan is to move the Glynn Archer students to an as-yet constructed elementary classrooms next to a proposed new $36 million Horace O'Bryant Middle School.

After months of discussions between Cates and Schools Superintendent Joe Burke, the two agreed generally that Glynn Archer might be purchased or leased by the city, which would renovate it and move its employees there. The school district also could lease, from the city, office space there, as well as build a new board room. The idea is to create a centralized government office park where parking would be plentiful for both bureaucracies.

But the worry, it seems, is in the details.

To gut the building and reconfigure walls, hallways and ceilings from classroom layout to city offices -- including Americans with Disabilities Act compliance -- would cost $18 million, school district construction officials have said. That figure worries city commissioners, who have determined that a brand-new, stand-alone City Hall might cost only $10 million. The city, however, is considering also building a fire station next to a new City Hall as well as erecting a new parking structure for $18 million, City Manager Jim Scholl said.

Cates urged commissioners to let Scholl start talks. The failed resolution would have directed Scholl to determine what the district would consider a "fair price," but not to seal the deal.

"The purpose is to begin ... we have to start someplace," Cates said. "We need to see what it will take to remodel it; that's the part of the negotiations [the school district] can come back to us with a figure."

Commissioner Mark Rossi said he was against negotiating with the district for Glynn Archer unless the city included talks to take over Horace O'Bryant, which sits on several acres next to the Key West Police Department headquarters. Rossi said it makes better sense to buy HOB and its surrounding acreage and move city offices there.

"The most logical situation is to take HOB, turn it over to us and make it a campus for police, city offices and parking; and that is the logical explanation for us," he said.

The School Board also isn't quite settled on what should be done next. A similar vote to direct the school system attorney to talk with the city about HOB used the term "appropriate disposition" rather than "sell."

That's the only way School Board member Debra Walker said she would vote for it at the March School Board meeting.

Walker said Tuesday morning that it wouldn't cost anything close to $18 million, the figure district Facilities Director Fred Sims calculated for the renovation of Glynn Archer. Proponents in the school system have argued that the district should sell the school with minor renovations.

"If we keep the interior classrooms and don't tear them out and move walls to create government offices, it will only cost $1.9 million to renovate," Walker said. "Kids can stay there now. There are two kinds of issues that would need to be addressed: ADA compliance, installing elevators and renovating bathrooms and other work."

Board member John Dick isn't convinced the district should sell the property.

"We need to see what the best deal is for all concerned," he said of the city. "My order of importance is the school district first, then the city of Key West; their importance is the opposite. We need to know the details."

In spite of the unease of city commissioners and school officials, board member Steve Pribramsky believes the deal -- that is, the city buys Glynn Archer and the district and city both relocate offices there after renovations -- will go through.

"I believe there are four votes on the School Board to sell the school to the city," he said.

City Commissioner Barry Gibson also is upbeat about the possibility.

"I think we have some small obligation to make the best of both worlds to see if we can make a deal here," he said.

In other business, the City Commission:

• Approved a contract with Kimberly-Horn and Associates Inc. for design and construction engineering services for the eventual beautification and extension of Petronia, Angela, Southard and other streets that run west from Duval Street to Truman Waterfront.

• Agreed to audits of all city agreements in which percentage rent is collected. The city charges some businesses on city-owned property a percentage of their income or sales for rent.

• Approved an agreement for the Tropical Soup Corp. to lease the former city Chamber of Commerce building at 402 Wall St.

jguerra@keysnews.com