Commissioners will auction South Side Annex April 11

Commissioners will auction South Side Annex April 11

YOUNGSTOWN

The Mahoning County commissioners voted this morning to hire George Roman Auctioneers Ltd. of Canfield to conduct a public auction to sell the county’s South Side Annex to the highest bidder.

The auction will be at 11 a.m. on April 11 at the annex. A viewing for potential buyers will be 10 a.m. to noon April 4.

The minimum bid will be $75,000.

In December, the commissioners unanimously rejected the bid by the non-profit Warriors Inc. to buy the annex at 2801 Market St. for $75,000 because it fell short of the advertised minimum bid of $426,667.

Warriors, 2733 Market St., had been the sole bidder for the vacant former county office complex, which had been appraised at $640,000.

Warriors, which operates the Eagles Christian Pre-School across Hylda Avenue from the annex, had planned to use the annex to expand its pre-school and offer more services to youths and families.

The 97,232-square-foot annex closed after the auto title department, the last county agency to leave the building, moved to Oakhill Renaissance Place, 345 Oak Hill Ave., in October 2012.

The county bought the 1957-vintage annex, which had been a Sears and Treasure Island department store, from the Cafaro Co. for $1.6 million in 1975.