Last-minute bid extends sale of former federal building

The online auction of the former federal building in Cape Girardeau was set to end at 2 p.m. Tuesday, but a last-minute bid extended the sale for another 24 hours. The new closing time is 2:30 p.m. Wednesday.

Late Tuesday morning, a bid of $201,601 was submitted, causing the auction to go into a 24-hour extension. Another bidder stepped in Tuesday afternoon placing a bid of $226,601 on the 44-year-old, two-story building. This came after a bid of $201,601 Tuesday morning that caused the auction to go into a 24-hour extension.

Angela Brees, spokeswoman for the U.S. General Services Administration, said she isn't surprised by the last-minute bidding.

"Typically, when we have a building up for auction, we see a flurry of last-minute activity," Brees said. "We had the same situation with a building in the Kansas City area that we recently auctioned. That building received a number of last-minute bids and was put on a series of 24-hour extensions for several days."

Presiding Commissioner Clint Tracy declined to comment on whether the commission had bid on the building, but said they are watching the bidding process.

Brees said the auction would be extended by 24-hour increments as long as bidders continued to make last-minute offers on the building. Bids must come in $25,000 increments.

The Cape Girardeau County Commission has expressed interest in obtaining the building in the past to serve as a county courthouse and attempted to purchase it before the auction. The commission made several offers to the GSA, but all were rejected.

Cape Girardeau city officials had considered a joint venture with the county to use the building, but pulled out of the deal in June over disagreements about how the space would be divided between the two.

Tracy declined to comment on whether the commission was still interested in purchasing the building, or how much they would be willing to pay for it.

Brees would not comment on whether the commission had placed any of the bids, but said there are four separate parties bidding on the property.

The latest bid is much higher than the first offer of $25,000, but still well below the GSA's suggested opening bid of $750,000.

Once the bidding ends and the auction closes, Brees said the GSA will look at market research and use that to determine if the final bid is an acceptable amount.

When asked if the GSA would accept the current bid of $201,601 as a final amount for the building, Brees said she didn't know.

"I hate to speculate about that," Brees said.

The GSA limited its pre-auction marketing of the building's sale to cities in Missouri, including Cape Girardeau, St. Louis and Columbia.

If the current bid is not accepted as a final price, Brees said the GSA would re-list the property for auction on its website and expand its marketing efforts to cities outside of Missouri in order to create more interest in the building.

"That's the only option the GSA is considering if the building doesn't sell during the current auction," Brees said.

Tracy said the commission would look at their options once bidding is closed.

"I'm not saying that we've bid on the building," Tracy said. "We'll just have to wait and see what happens when the auction is over. But if the GSA rejects all the bids and decides to re-list it, that defeats the purpose of having an auction in the first place."

ssemmler@semissourian.com

388-3648

Pertinent address:

339 Broadway, Cape Girardeau, MO