City of Lincoln to re-bid for sale of property at 227 North Kickapoo
Minimum bid specification dropped

 

[June 25, 2022] 

At their meeting held on May 16, 2022, Lincoln City Council approved an ordinance authorizing the bid process for the property at 227 North Kickapoo.

The bid specifications for the brown garage building included a minimum bid of $25,000, a stipulation that the drop boxes on the property would remain intact and the access to those boxes in good repair, and that the building would be refurbished or demolished at the expense of the buyer.

The building used for fire training and for storage had fallen into disrepair and the city had determined the building was not worth keeping. The desire of the council was to sell the property to some party that would turn the lot into a viable new structure and business in the heart of the city. While the first inclination of the council was that the building would need to be demolished, it was agreed that anyone willing to put the effort into restoration could probably turn the building back into a usable structure.

The bid specifications were made known to the public and the dead line for submitting a bid was established as June 14th.
 

At the June 14th committee of the whole meeting, Mayor Tracy Welch opened the single bid for the property. The bid came from Lincoln business owners Greg Patel and Joe Ryan. The bid met the $25,000, but stipulated that the city would demolish the building for the buyers.

Welch said that it appeared that the bidders were asking for the council to reconsider the stipulation on demolition due to the high cost involved in doing such a job.

The council discussed how that the bid was not made according to specification, and that the city could not afford to do the demolition for the buyer.

The city had originally specified that the bid be set at a minimum of $25,000 to cover the cost of some work that had already been done inside the building, so there was no real profit in what the city was seeking.

The aldermen agreed that the bid presented had to be rejected, and that a new bid process would have to take place.

They also considered what it was going to take to get the building out of their possession, and concluded that the minimum bid of $25,000 would have to be dropped.

City Attorney John Hoblit was asked to amend the ordinance and present it to the voting session on June 21st.

At the June 21st voting session the new ordinance was presented and the aldermen approved it with a vote of 7-0 with alderwoman Wanda Lee Rohlfs being absent for the evening.

Bids are due back to city hall no later than July 12th and will be opened at the committee of the whole meeting of the Lincoln City Council on that evening.

[Nila Smith]