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NEWS BRIEFS
HMDA accelerating search for annex building developer
HUNTINGTON -- The Huntington Municipal Development Authority is accelerating its search for a developer to purchase the municipal annex building.
Chairwoman Liza Caldwell said during the authority's meeting Monday that its executive committee will send written notifications to developers that they intend to sell the vacant building, located next to City Hall along 5th Avenue.
Caldwell said the committee hasn't ironed out the details yet, but she expects notifications will be distributed in the next 30 to 60 days.
Authority member Chuck Polan suggested that HMDA issue a request for proposals so it can gain an understanding of what developers might have in mind for the building. The HMDA then should issue a request for bids, he said.
If the notification process doesn't work, the executive committee will consider putting the building up for auction, Caldwell said.
The city purchased the building for $500,000 from Polan Realty Corp. in November 1978 to provide extra office space. At the time, the Huntington Sanitary Board and crime prevention and juvenile units of the Huntington Police Department had offices there.
Several fires, along with safety concerns of employees and patrons, forced the offices for the Huntington Human Relations Commission, Sanitary Board, Municipal Court and the Tri-State Opportunities Industrialization Center to move out of the building in 1999.
It then was used as storage space for outdated computer equipment and old records. A rash of break-ins in 2002 prompted the city to board up all the windows and place padlocks on the front door.
The building was cleaned from top to bottom last year and all of the records have been thrown away, said Tom Bell, HMDA executive director.
A Community Development Block Grant of $131,677 was spent in 2007 on removing asbestos and contaminated debris from the building to make it more attractive to developers. The city also painted the front and hosted an open house there in October. Several developers toured the building, but no one made an official offer, Bell said.
