Guilford County government is letting the City of Greensboro rent Sternberger Park for at least one more year – though the county isn’t exactly raking in a lot of dough on that rental contract.

The price of just about everything has gone up in the last 12 months, but the cost of renting Sternberger Park for Greensboro remains one dollar and no cents this year.

At the Guilford County Board of Commissioners meeting on Thursday, July 13, the board intends to authorize the lease of the park property at the northwest intersection of Summit Avenue and Dewey Street in Greensboro to the city for another year for another dollar.

The small park in the Dunleath Historic District near downtown Greensboro has been leased by the city for decades.

Though the county is legally required to provide public notice of the rental transaction, it doesn’t legally have to engage in a competitive bidding process for other interested parties.  There would probably be a whole lot of people willing to pay $10, $20 or even $1,000 or more a year to have a nice park all to themselves.

The 12-month contract to be approved on July 13 will be retroactively effective to July 1, 2023, and will extend until June 30, 2024.

For much of the last century, up until 1953, the land was the site of a 60-bed hospital. It closed when Moses Cone Hospital opened.

Sternberger Park was dedicated as a park in 1978.

Guilford County will sometimes rent out property or space for the sum of $1 a year when county officials want to support a service provided by the occupants.  In order for a contract to be enforceable, each side must have some “consideration,” and the county getting a dollar from the renter fills that requirement.

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