Iconic downtown structure lands online auction bid of $10,250
There might just be a cure for one of the City’s biggest downtown headaches. The former and very-vacant Enderson Clothing building at 157 3rd St. — one of two commercial buildings on Tracy’s tax-forfeiture list — received a bid from an unknown source for $10,250 on MNBid, a surplus website run by the Minnesota Department of Administration.
“I have no clue whether they know what they bid on,” Tracy Community Development Director Tom Dobson said. “It will be interesting. Maybe it’s someone who knows what they’re doing is going to come in, fix it and establish it. That would be nice.”
Dobson added that the legal issues tied to that building will be cleared by the State of Minnesota.
“Whoever had it before lost their rights to it,” he said. “We still have a case against a bank out of Michigan,” Tracy City Administrator Jeff Carpenter said. “We can’t do anything with that unless they tried to open up some kind of business or do any kind of transaction in Minnesota.”
In total, Tracy is home to 16 tax-forfeited properties: eight residential homes two commercial buildings and six lots.
Once a staple in downtown Tracy, Enderson Clothing, a men’s clothing store, closed in May 2002. For most of the auction, the high bid was $10,225, but a bid of $10,250 came in at 4:20 p.m. this past Sunday. The assessed value of the Enderson building is $10,200, and is subject to a $7,632.01 special assessment.
The other commercial building is a former funeral home at 372 3rd St. with an appraised market value of $120,800; there were no bidders for that building. There is also a $14,163.93 special assessment tied to that structure.
$10,250. Now the question is, will it be sold? Photo / Per Peterson THE OLD ENDERSON BUILDING attracted an online acution bid of
Other houses on the hit list are at: 75 Rowland St. (appraised at $20,800); 424 Rowland St. ($28,800 with a $10,059.24 special assessment); 550 Morgan St. ($39,100, $16,939.44); 336 Harvey St. ($37,100, $8,265.68); 437 3rd St. ($32,600, $7,500); 285 5th St. ($25,500, $2,842.82); 200 State St. ($68,400, $5,114.25); and 200 Union St. ($7,000, $578.34).
Houses that were bid on include: 75 Rowland St. (winning bid of $20,800); 550 Morgan St. ($39,300); 200 State St. ($71,650); and 200 Union St. ($7,225). The latter is one of the most dilapidated houses in Tracy.
“We call that the ‘raccoon house,’ because it is infested,“ Dobson said. “We cannot even get into the house; the foundation is gone.”
Bidding closed on Monday. When asked about the possibility of these buildings being bought and then are left to just sit vacant, Dobson said the City would find itself in a better situation than if they are without a buyer, as far as being able to expedite doing something with a structure.
Winning bidders have 10 days from the closing of the auction to take action to complete the purchase. Any structure that does not officially sell with remain in the hands of the State, Dobson said. Lyon County would be responsible to put those homes up for auction at least once every year.
He added that if the City wanted to tear those houses down, it would have to get a raze order from the State. The City does have $21,000 left in its Clean-up Tracy budget.
The online bidding does not show who the bidder is, just his or her bid number and most recent bid. Three houses have the same bidder, Dobson said.
Carpenter stressed that while having these eye sores still standing might be frustrating to residents, the City is doing its best to rectify the situation.
“It’s not like we’re not doing anything about it,” he said. “We have meetings about it, we’re doing everything we’re supposed to. We take phone calls saying, ‘Why aren’t you doing anything about this?’ We are. We are trying to do something. It’s frustrating.”
The empty lot adjacent to the future community center (former ADO building); sold for $12,100 (its appraised market value is $7,700). The lot has a $4,463.33 assessment tied to it. A number of other lots on the auction were also sold, with prices ranging from $710-$5,400.
