After making some structural repairs to a tax-forfeited building in disrepair on South Broadway, the city of Albert Lea is now hoping to return it to the private market. 

The Albert Lea City Council on Monday approved a resolution authorizing the advertisement of requests for proposals for the sale and development of 1039 S. Broadway. The building is part of a pilot project underway by the city set up to save some of the tax-forfeited properties in the city and return them to the tax rolls. 

Instead of demolishing all of the tax-forfeited structures the city obtains, the city is rehabbing the buildings still worth saving, using the money it would have spent on demolition costs for the repairs. After the repairs are made, the city is turning the properties back over to the private market and selling them at fair market value. After the buildings are sold, a developer could do further updates, such as painting, flooring, kitchen or other updates, and then sell or market the property for use.

City Manager Ian Rigg said the city cannot make money on the sales, and the cash loss for the city would be equal to or less than demolition costs.

Rigg said in the case of the property at 1039 S. Broadway, a local Realtor estimated the value of the building to be between $50,000 and $65,000 given the current market, with the total cost of repairs the city made to the building being about $51,300. 

The sale price will be set between $29,900 and $49,900. 

He said the request for proposals was released Tuesday, and negotiations on submitted proposals will begin Aug. 1.

“If none come up that are suitable or agreeable then we continue to leave it open until such time,” he said. “If that doesn’t produce any results, then we’ll have to reconsider strategies here, but I think the ultimate goal is to find someone who’s going to buy a building, continue improving it, hopefully create some jobs out of it and improve the tax base.”

The resolution allows Rigg to negotiate with a potential buyer, but in the end if there are a couple good options that can’t be narrowed down, the issue may come back before the council, he said. 

Albert Lea Mayor Vern Rasmussen Jr. said right now there are a lot of buildings in the community in which repairs are likely going to outweigh the cost that someone in the private market might be willing to pay. 

Most homes typically cost the city between $15,000 and $30,000 to demolish, and when the buildings are taken down there is no property value remaining on that lot. 

“We’re trying a couple properties here to see how this works for us,” Rasmussen said. “If this seems to work well for us in saving some of the dilapidated buildings that we’ve got around town, we’ll probably be looking at further taking care of these situations with tax-forfeited properties.

“This is just a project we’re trying and we’ll see how it goes and hopefully we can save some of these buildings so we don’t just have a lot of empty lots.”

Second Ward Councilor Larry Baker asked in the event the property doesn’t sell, if the city could go back in and lower the price even more. 

Rigg said the city could, but the goal was to sell at minimum what would have been spent on demolition. 

The city manager said city staff have shown the property to an interested buyer who is aware it would soon become available. 

The building was historically known as Duck’s Tap, and through the years has also been Domino’s Pizza and, more recently, storage for its owner.