A large building
that used to house retailers like Target and Steve & Barry's will remain
empty for now after the bank rejected the top offer at an auction Wednesday.
Key Auctioneers,
which handled the auction for the bank, says about 8-10 bidders were registered
for the auction of the 153,000 square foot building and 10 acres of land at McKinley
and Hickory in South Bend. Jeff Doner with Key Auctioneers says the top bid was
around $650,000.
Right after the
auction, Doner said he planned to get on the phone with some of the bidders to
see what their concerns were.
"If it
is pure and simple price, that's one thing. If it was terms and conditions... I
know for a fact that the one bidder I had on the phone, his issue was zoning,"
said Doner. "So, at this point, we can go back to this buyer and say 'OK, if
it's was a zoning issue, would you like to make a bid of more than $650,000
dollars subject to a zoning change?'"
The building has
been empty for several years the closing of Steve & Barry's. It was used
this spring for Notre Dame's "Old2Gold" sale due to construction at Notre Dame
Stadium.
Doner says he
remains hopeful the building will see a new tenant soon.
"Interestingly
enough, we've sold a couple of buildings, not quite this big, but large
churches have come in and taken over a lot of big-box buildings," said
Doner.
