News

Bid for Sixth Avenue house falls through

By Bill Moss, Published: August 7, 2014

A $25 bid for a 100-year-old house on Sixth Avenue that must be cleared for the new health sciences education building sounded good but it was too good to be true. Hendersonville City Manager John Connet said Thursday night that the bidder backed out of the offer, which required him to clear the lot in about three weeks.

"I'll sell it for $25 if they'll move it," Connet said Thursday, five hours after the 4 a.m. close of bidding on the website govdeals.com.

He said after the Hendersonville City Council meeting Thursday night that when city public works director Tom Wooten contacted the bidder, he backed out, saying he had not meant to bid on the house. The next highest bid was $15. Wooten said he had made a call to that bidder Thursday and had not heard back.
The city offered the house to anyone who would move or dismantle it piece by piece. The house has to be removed to make way for a new 75,000-square-foot health sciences building to be shared by Wingate University, Blue Ridge Community College and Pardee Hospital. The project has been a joint venture among those parties, Henderson County and the city of Hendersonville.
The city closed on the purchase of the one-acre lot last week and is working toward clearing and grading the lot so it can hand it over to Henderson County, which is in charge of construction.
Once the house and two outbuildings are gone, "we've still got to remove trees and there's an underground storage tank we've got to remove," Connet said.
Bidding for the big house ended at 4 a.m. today but the city listed a small house in the back yard with a deadline to bid of Aug. 11. Built shortly after the turn of the century, the home had been owned by the McCall family since 1945.
The listing described it as a late 1800s to early 1900s wood framed house with one bedroom, a living room that connects to an old kitchen, a full bath and a small foyer.
"If you purchase this house, you are obligated to move it from the property as specified," the listing said. "The house must be moved by August 25th and the footprint of the house must be clean of all debris (building material and trash) plus any debris generated from the move. The approximate dimensions are 20 feet wide by 20 feet wide with a 6 foot by 12 foot addition.
"The home has had a leak in the bathroom area but some repair work has been completed. We are not sure if the leak has been completely repaired or not. The house appears to be structurally sound but we make no guarantees about that. The buyer is responsible for moving the home by August 25th including the clean up process. The buyer is also responsible for any and all costs associated with moving the house."
Here is a link:
http://www.govdeals.com/index.cfm?fa=Main.Item&itemid=189&acctid=1686