The Henderson City Commission rejected the high bid for the former office of Henderson Municipal Power & Light because it did not reach the lowest acceptable offer city officials had decided on before the auction of the building began.
An online auction conducted by Herron Auction and Realty closed Thursday evening with a high bid of $470,500 for the building located at 100 Fifth St.
City Manager Buzzy Newman told the commission at a special called meeting Friday afternoon that bid was lower than what the city wanted to accept, or the reserve limit, and recommended that the commission reject it. He said the high bid was “significantly below that reserve limit.”
Commissioner Robert Pruitt agreed, saying, “It didn’t come up to our expectations.”
Kevin Herron, owner of Herron Auction and Realty, said the feedback he received showed that the boundary lines of the property, which are very close to the physical building, limited its potential uses and could have kept it from reaping a high bid of $100,000 to $400,000 more.
Herron said the property received lots of interest, and there are several positives, including its location near downtown and the structure’s good condition, but its boundary lines were a big deterrent in getting a higher bid.
Additionally, Herron said there were 19 people who registered to bid in the auction, with seven of those making bids for a total of 143 bids.
The property attracted a bid all the way from Washington State, the farthest away, Herron said. The rest were local or regional, he said.
Newman said the city could first attempt to sell this property by three ways—by sealed bids, public auction or through economic development processes.
Because the first attempt was by public auction, the city can now put the property up for sale with a known price, said City Attorney Dawn Kelsey.
Commissioner Austin Vowels moved that the commission reject the bid and ask that the city attorney and city manager bring options for selling the property to a future city commission meeting. It passed 5-0.
Mayor Brad Staton said the predetermined lowest acceptable bid price cannot be revealed until the city sets a public price for the property.