Bidding on former federal building extended again

A handful of late bids in the online auction of the former federal building in Cape Girardeau have again extended the sale of the building on Broadway.

The first last-minute bid came Tuesday morning, extending the auction for 24 hours. The bidding went back and forth Wednesday, with the final high bid coming in at $425,003. That bid created a new closing time of 2:50 p.m. today for the auction.

The U.S. General Services Administration, which is auctioning the building, will extend the auction by 24-hour increments each time a new bid comes in until bidding stops.

At that point, the GSA will evaluate the final bid amount and decide whether to accept it or relist the building for auction.

Angela Brees, spokeswoman for the GSA, said extensions are typical on auctions of government buildings.

"The last federal building we sold on our website went into multiple 24-hour extensions for about three weeks," Brees said. "So this could go on for some time."

With the GSA's confidentiality policy, Brees would not comment on the identities of the bidders but said four groups are bidding on the property.

Only two groups showed interest in purchasing the 44-year-old building before the auction's start. The Cape Girardeau County Commission, which planned to use the building as a new county courthouse, and the Rev. Larry Rice of the New Life Evangelistic Center, who planned to convert the building into a homeless shelter.

The commission has neither confirmed nor denied that it is one of the bidders.

Rice said again this week that the evangelical center was no longer interested in buying the property and had no intention of bidding.

The city of Cape Girardeau had at one time expressed interest in entering a joint venture with the commission to share the 47,867-square-foot building, but city manager Scott Meyer said again Wednesday that the city is no longer interested in buying the property.

"We are not one of the bidders. I can tell you that," Meyer said.

Brees said the former federal building was placed on the auction site's homepage this week.

"We've been getting a lot of calls from interested buyers, both in-state and out-of-state," Brees said. "We also took some tours of potential buyers through the building on Wednesday."

Brees would not say who was given a tour of the property but said the GSA had sold similar buildings to development companies in the past.

The GSA has also removed the suggested starting bid price of $750,000 from its website and replaced it with a suggested ending price of $900,000.

Brees would not say whether the GSA would accept the original sum of $750,000 as a final selling price for the property.

"Obviously, we want to get as much as we can for the building," Brees said.

ssemmler@semissourian.com

388-3648

Pertinent address:

339 Broadway, Cape Girardeau, MO