Despite having a willing buyer for Fire Station No. 1 on Gordon Drive Southeast, City Attorney Herman Marks has advised the Decatur City Council to place the old building up for auction again.
The city has been unable to sell the 63-year-old building since closing it in 2008.
Local businessman Herb Underwood won the right last year to buy the building through the traditional bidding process with a $100,000 bid, but he did not close the deal.
The city then was unable to sell the building as a traditional real estate sale, said City Purchasing Agent Charles Booth.
Booth said he placed the building on the GovDeals online auction site twice. On the first attempt, bids failed to meet the unadvertised reserve. Bids fell short of the $60,000 advertised reserve on the second attempt.
Bill Thompson, of Russellville, had the highest bid at $40,000 on the second attempt, and Booth asked the City Council on Monday if it wanted to sell at the lower price.
Thompson said the building has “good bones,” but he doesn’t want to talk about his ideas for the fire station until his purchase is complete.
“I would like to preserve the character of the building,” Thompson said. “The zoning and parking restrictions will determine what the best occupancy is for it.”
Thompson, who bid $39,000 on the initial online auction, said he would like to discuss purchasing the building with city officials “in a less formal setting. I’m not sure of the city’s vision for the building.”
Council President Gary Hammon said any meeting would have to be held in a public setting.
Councilman Roger Anders said the city should sell the building for whatever it can get because of the building’s problems, which include mold and a roof that is caving in. Mold forced the initial closure eight years ago.
“If the city tears it down, it will be more of a problem that it’s worth,” Anders said. “It’s an old building that I’m sure has lead-based paint that we’ll have to handle. I think we need to sell it.”
Marks said the city has to determine a “reasonable and fair market value, and the auction probably does not accomplish that requirement.” The building has an appraised value of $128,000.
Marks said the City Council should put the fire station on GovDeals again with a lower reserve.
“Someone might not have offered a bid because they didn’t want to bid $60,000,” Marks said. “They might have bid on the building at a reduced reserve.”
Councilman Charles Kirby said, “Thompson made a good faith bid,” and the winner’s bid could be less if the next auction has no reserve.
Anders suggested auctioning the fire station again with a $40,000 reserve, and the other councilmen agreed to this suggestion. Booth said he will place it on auction for 14 days.
Thompson said he was disappointed, but understands the city has to follow the law when it sells a building.
[email protected] or 256-340-2432. Twitter @DD_BayneHughes.
———
©2016 The Decatur Daily (Decatur, Ala.)
Visit The Decatur Daily (Decatur, Ala.) at www.decaturdaily.com
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC
