The Henderson City Commission Tuesday afternoon denied a request to grant the Henderson Distilling Co. the right of first refusal on the sale of the former administrative offices of Henderson Municipal Power & Light.
The right of first refusal would allow the distilling company to match the amount of sale to buy the property, if the city were to sell the property at 100 Water St.
“I just don’t know understand why we’d give them the right of first refusal when we’ve already negotiated with them to waive the right of first refusal,” said Commissioner Austin Vowels.
The building sits in the corner of a city block—bound by Water Street, Fifth Street, Main Street and the L&N railroad bridge—that the city sold to the distilling company at a bargain $500,000, a deal city officials said would be good for the community, bringing a new business, jobs and tourists to Henderson once the distillery is up and running.
But the city kept the former HMP&L building with the idea that it would sell it and recoup some of the money lost from the bargain price of the connected land.
In January, the city and the distilling company signed an agreement—as a part of the sale—which granted the distilling company the first right of refusal for the old HMP&L office, according to documents from the city.
In June, however, city officials negotiated with representatives of the distilling company, who agreed to waive the right of first refusal in light of an approaching online auction of the HMP&L office building.
Weeks after the distilling company waived the first right of refusal, an online auction for the property was conducted by Herron Auction & Realty. It closed the evening of Aug. 8, and the next afternoon at a special called meeting, the city commission rejected the high bid of $470,500.
City Manager Buzzy Newman told the commission at the Aug. 9 special called meeting that the bid was lower than what the city wanted to accept, or the reserve limit, and he recommended that the commission reject it. He said the high bid was “significantly below that reserve limit.”
Now that the auction didn’t turn up a bid the city deemed worthy and the city is preparing to put the property on the market with Herron Auction & Realty, officials with the distilling company wanted to get the right of first refusal reinstated.
“As you may recall, on June 11, 2024, the Distillery waived its’ First Right of Refusal under certain conditions which were not realized, and the parties now desire to reinstitute the First Right of Refusal under the same consideration previously conveyed,” Newman wrote in a memo included in Tuesday’s agenda packet.
In the memo, Newman requests the city commission to approve the distilling company’s request.
But at Tuesday’s special called meeting, every city commissioner voiced concerns about reinstating a measure that officials had negotiated to waive months ago. And then all voted to deny reinstating it.
Andrew Powell, the president of the Henderson Distilling Co., said he hadn’t had a chance to meet with his board and didn’t say much about the decision.
He said he’s not upset with the decision and remains grateful that the city worked with his company on the property where the distillery will sit.
Powell said that the distilling company would be interested in buying the building “for the right price.”
“It’s not listed yet,” he said.
The issue had previously been listed on an Aug. 27 city commission agenda, but the commission held an executive session mid-meeting. When the open meeting was resumed, the item was not mentioned.
