Parkersburg resident Joseph Smith speaks to members of Parkersburg City Council about his concerns over the Urban Renewal Authority property at 1954 Seventh St. during Tuesday's council meeting. (Photo by Evan Bevins)

PARKERSBURG – The former Economy Inn site at 1954 Seventh St. has generated interest from five bidders – two of which proposed more than $1 million in development – with virtually no active marketing.

On Tuesday night, the Parkersburg Urban Renewal Authority voted to see what options an active sales effort could bring forward.

With four offers on their agenda and a fifth submitted the day of the meeting, the members of Parkersburg City Council who make up the authority voted to have the Development Department look into the best potential uses of the property and possible prices as a prelude to putting the land on the market for a potential national audience.

“I think we try and market this property,” URA Vice Chairman Zach Stanley said.

The city purchased the property last year for $681,000 after negotiations with the owner, for whom the Economy Inn was a residence and source of income as a means of addressing slum and blight. Demolition and other expenses pushed the total spent on the property to more than $800,000.

Parkersburg City Councilwoman Sharon Kuhl, left, defends the Urban Renewal Authority's decision to purchase and demolish the former Economy Inn on Seventh Street at a total expense of more than $800,000 during Tuesday’s council meeting as Councilman Bob Mercer, Councilwoman Wendy Tuck and council President Mike Reynolds listen. (Photo by Evan Bevins)

That number, and consideration by city officials of using it as the site of a replacement for fire station 3 at 13th and Liberty streets, raised questions from members of the public that were repeated during Tuesday’s regular council meeting before the URA session.

The initial offer came from Clayton Workman, owner of the Monsters Bent Barbell gym on Seventh Street. He proposed buying the property for $75,000 and building an expanded facility on it.

After that offer was reported prior to the May 28 URA meeting, others expressed interest. The URA voted 5-2 then to postpone action on his application to Tuesday’s meeting.

Three more offers were submitted, including:

* $125,000 from Aaron Read, the owner of Strong Tower Contracting and Read Properties, who proposed spending a total of $1.35 million over three to five years developing an expansion of his contracting business, as well as townhouses and warehousing and storage units.

* $125,000 from Don and Sherry West of West Development LLC, who proposed marketing it as a commercial property with a focus on national restaurant chains.

* $150,000 from John Bosley Jr., who co-owns multiple area businesses including J.C. Bosley Construction Inc., and said he would market the property for a restaurant, gas station or commercial establishment.

Workman, his wife and a member of the gym spoke in favor of his offer and the work the gym does in the community, including with people who are homeless or in recovery.

“For me, it’s not about making money; it’s about leaving a legacy and making a difference,” Workman said.

Read praised the work that Workman does. He said his Strong Tower Contracting is “growing rapidly” and his proposal to include townhouses on the property would help address the area’s lack of affordable housing.

Sherry West was unable to attend the meeting but said in a letter read by City Planner Connor LaVelle that even though she was confident she could sell the property to a restaurant chain, “it’s in the city’s best interests to accept the highest monetary offer.”

Of those on the agenda, that was the one from Bosley, who did not speak and apparently was not in attendance. But LaVelle read another letter from Tyler Astorg, who submitted an application Tuesday offering $200,000 for the property as a new location for Hyundai sales, service and parts as part of the Astorg family of dealerships.

At the request of authority members, LaVelle shared the offered price and that Astorg estimated an additional $4 million for construction of the facility. However, he noted that the application had not been received in time for the meeting, as Astorg acknowledged in the letter, and could not be voted on Tuesday.

“This is not for consideration; this is for information,” LaVelle said.

The authority voted 6-0, with Councilmen J.R. Carpenter and Chris Rexroad and Councilwoman Jesse Cottrille absent, to authorize the Development Department to do its due diligence and prepare for a potential sale on the GovDeals auction website. Officials said this could include getting an appraisal of the site, developing parameters for a sale and setting a minimum reserve price.

“I think if we do cast a bigger net we can certainly grow the offers we might receive,” Development Director Ryan Barber said.

During the regular meeting, council voted 5-1, with Councilwoman Wendy Tuck opposed, to approve the final reading of an ordinance changing the way police and firefighters are compensated for holidays.

The ordinance will align with a new state law by specifying that a full shift counts toward holiday compensation, even if a portion of it does not fall on the calendar day of the actual holiday. The law says those who work the holiday or have a regularly scheduled day off will receive equal time off or be paid at a rate of time-and-a-half.

Firefighters sued the city over its practice of counting only the portion of the shift on the actual holiday and paying down their holiday time balances twice a year at the straight rate rather than time-and-a-half. In part due to the difficulty of firefighters being able to take off the compensatory time and the increased amounts now that the full shifts count, the ordinance says firefighters and police are to receive their holiday pay on the next paycheck.

However, Lt. Adam Delbaugh, a city firefighter and president of International Association of Firefighters Local 91, has argued that unfairly pays someone who is off for an extra shift-and-a-half, while the person who works the holiday only receives the additional half. Mayor Tom Joyce said the ordinance complies with state law.

Evan Bevins can be reached at ebevins@newsandsentinel.com.