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PARKERSBURG — A Tennessee company has bought the former health department building for $500 at an auction held at the Wood County Courthouse Monday morning.

County officials have been planning to try to sell the building, located at 211 Sixth St., at auction.

At first no one appeared for the auction and county officials began talking about the possibility of demolishing the building. However, a woman showed up telling officials the company she represented wanted to put an offer on the building.

Rocky Rocco LLC put an offer of $500 on the building which was accepted.

The company, based in Rogersville, is a Tennessee Domestic Limited-Liability Company, according to the Tennessee Secretary of State’s website. It has a mailing address in Rogersville, Tenn.

The deal was done and the appropriate paperwork was signed off on Monday afternoon before 3 p.m., said Wood County Commission President Blair Couch and attorney Andrew Woofter III.

Officials did not believe the county could place any kind of offices in that building.

In late May 2024, a waterline break caused the MOVHD offices to close after sustaining a lot of damage. The health department’s operations were moved and conducted at different sites around town until the commission decided to lease space at St. Joseph’s Landing (the former St. Joseph’s Hospital).

Health department officials informed the commission in mid-June they were completely out of the building on Sixth Street and “handed in all of their keys,” county officials said.

Couch said the commission had hopes that someone would approach them with a use for the building. Before the sale Monday, officials began to discuss what it might have taken to tear the building down.

Couch said demolition estimates for the building were in the “hundreds of thousands” of dollars range.

The county has had to maintain water and electric service to the building and the county maintenance department has had to go through the building once a week to make sure it is in stable condition, Couch said.

“It has been a topic for awhile,” he said. “No one has approached us to use it for anything other than what it was.

“This was a good move for the county.”

Rocky Rocco LLC company officials could not be reached for comment on their plans for the building.

Brett Dunlap can be reached at bdunlap@newsandsentinel.com