Both the former Standard Mutual office building in Springfield and the historic Broadgauge restaurant in Petersburg are back on the market after failing to sell at separate auctions last month.
“We had a handful of people interested in bidding, but it didn’t come close to the reserve,” said Douglas Pope, owner of the Broadgauge building.
The Sept. 20-22 online auction was handled by Dan Sperry of The Real Estate Group. The property was originally listed for sale earlier this year at an asking price of $2.9 million and later reduced to $1.9 million. Following the auction, the list price was further reduced to $1 million.
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In addition, Pope said he is willing to offer seller financing to someone who may be a good owner/operator for the property.
“I’d be happy to do owner financing for someone that doesn’t necessarily have financial backing,” he said. “Even the $1 million price is definitely negotiable. My goal is to get it sold by the end of the year, and I’ll do whatever I can to make that happen.”
All furnishings and equipment are included, and Pope said he hopes that will make it seamless for a new owner.
“A lot of people in the community are wanting it to open up again,” Pope said. “But people haven’t found the lead owner/operator.”
A week prior to the Broadgauge auction, the 25,062-square-foot office building at 1028 South Grand Ave. W. was also offered at auction. Bill Marriott, a commercial broker with The Real Estate Group, handled the auction for the brick building at the southwest corner of MacArthur Boulevard and South Grand Avenue.
It has been owned by the Roberts family since it was originally built for Standard Mutual in the late 1950s.
In 2016, Standard Mutual was sold to National General Insurance Company, which then leased the building for six years. After National General vacated the property it was listed for sale for $1,900,000.
Like the Broadgauge property, the Sept. 15-17 auction also failed to meet the reserve, although current owner Mark Robert III told SBJ the reserve was “set very low for a prime location” and it was “priced to sell.”
“Now we are looking to lower the price significantly and relist it for $975,000,” he said.