SIDNEY – The Shelby County Land Reutilization Corp. was unsuccessful in its attempt to sell a property in Sidney and now will move ahead with plans to demolish it.

Land Bank Director Doug Ahlers reported during Tuesday’s meeting that five or six groups toured the building at 305 S. Ohio Ave. in Sidney, and Land Bank members contacted contractors and businesses to gauge their interest in the property. However, no one placed a bid.

“Once they had a carpenter look at the possible rehabilitation costs, they all stepped away from it,” Ahlers said. “It has some foundation issues.”

During the Land Bank’s last meeting in July, Ahlers reported that an individual approached him about buying the property, but he too decided against making an offer.

“It could be grand, but it’s just in the wrong neighborhood,” Ahlers said.

Having received no offers for the property, the Land Bank decided to move ahead with plans to demolish it. Ahlers expects costs to be high as it’s a large building and there likely is a significant amount of asbestos present.

“Just letting it sit there doesn’t do anything for anybody,” Ahlers said. “We tried. We had a public auction. We advertised in the newspaper. We went outside of that and called other people, had some contractors go through it. Nobody has any interest. So I think we’ve done as much as we can do.”

Ahlers also reported the Land Bank demolished two buildings at 16377 County Road 25A, Anna, and there is someone interested in buying the land. Demolition costs were $35,000, and the individual is interested in the property for $40,000.

The approximately 2 acre property is connected to Botkins water and sewer, and the individual plans to build a house and storage building.

Ahlers intends to check with Dinsmore Township to see if it has interest in the property before moving to finalize the potential sale.

The Land Bank also recently demolished buildings at 323 S. Franklin Ave. in Sidney and 426 Jefferson St. in Sidney.

Treasurer John Coffield reported the Land Bank sold properties on State Route 47 near Port Jefferson and on Fair Oaks Drive in Sidney to neighboring property owners.

Properties on State Route 66 in Houston and State Route 362 near Fort Loramie also may be sold in the near future.

Ahlers said the Land Bank has acquired 77 properties, 65 of which have been demolished and five which have been sold. The Land Bank has five properties that it is working to acquire in foreclosure.

The Land Bank has submitted for reimbursement a total of $1,136,039.13 and been approved for $999,049.41 by the Neighborhood Initiative Project thus far.

Committee members also approved Ahlers attending a Land Bank conference in Cincinnati that he said will be a good networking opportunity.

“I think it’s extremely important this year with the NIP closing out and see how other people, other Land Banks are moving forward, what they’re doing and what we can pick up from them,” Shelby County Commissioner Bob Guillozet said. “I think it will be an important year to attend and use those networking opportunities.”

Land Bank’s next meeting is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Oct. 8 in the County Annex.