Duane Hicks
No buyers have come forward to bid on the old Rainy Lake Hotel.
The town put up the property for tax sale in mid-January but no one submitted a tender as of the deadline of 3 p.m. on Feb. 15.
Tax administrator Tara Redford said there were expressions of interest, but no bids.
She added 32 information packages on the property were downloaded, and two in-person inquiries were made at the Civic Centre.
Redford said what happens now will be up to town council, adding there’s several options, including taking ownership of it or advertising it again for tax sale.
“They can write off the taxes that are currently there and then re-tender it at a different price, but usually they don’t do that because we still have costs that we have to factor in there,” she explained.
“But it is an option to write off the current taxes that are there.”
The notice of the sale indicated the minimum tender amount would be $163,474.85.
But Redford noted a successful buyer would have to pay the minimum bid ($163,474.85) plus an additional $7,000-12,000 (due to the 2011 interim levy and additional fees for finalizing the tax sale)—bringing the total up to the $170,000-175,000 range.
More importantly, they would have to pay the various liens against the property, which Redford said are “quite substantial.”
The last time she checked, the liens totalled close to $1 million.
The former Rainy Lake Hotel has been closed since October, 2005.
