Let the bidding war begin.
Rejecting the unsolicited offers it’s had, Middlesex County is opening its showpiece lands overlooking London’s birthplace to all comers through a call for expressions of interest in the historic property.
Following a closed-door meeting Tuesday, county council decided it will only accept proposals for both 50 King St., now the home of the area public health office which is moving to CitiPlaza, and 399 Ridout St. N., the 19th-century former London courthouse building used as the county’s administration building. Also included is a restored historic jail behind the county building.
Overlooking the forks of the Thames River, where London began, the downtown turf is one of the most historic sites in the city.
The county, for a time, had been talking about building a highrise residential tower on the part of the property where the health unit building stands.
“We understand this is a very valuable property, and we want to make sure that the process is fully transparent,” Middlesex Warden Kurtis Smith said of council’s decision.
“Allowing it to be open through an expression of interest will allow many different developers or individuals to put expressions of interest for the properties,” he said.
Until now, the county hadn’t sought offers. Middlesex had several unsolicited offers to buy or lease the properties, county officials have said. All of them were rejected.
One of those offers is believed to have come from London city hall, with Mayor Ed Holder and some city officials seen leaving the county building in July following a closed-door meeting in which county politicians discussed the future of the properties.
Asked Tuesday whether the city had made a formal offer, Bill Rayburn, the county’s top bureaucrat, said he could not comment since council dealt with all the offers as confidential property matters.
The Middlesex-London Health Unit plans to vacate the building it rents for $600,000 a year at 50 King St. this April.
Smith said the original intent was to decide only what would happen with 50 King, but several offers the county received involved both of its properties, making Tuesday’s vote necessary.
“Council was not looking at doing anything with 399 Ridout St. It wasn’t on our radar to do anything with it. But now that those unsolicited offers came in, we realized we should make sure we are being accountable to ourselves and the public,” he said.
Tuesday’s council motion clears the way for a potential sale of both properties, but Smith insisted that’s not a foregone conclusion.
“Going through this process does not mean that county council will be selling either property,” he said. “It just means that we are going through that process to make sure we have all the options out there for council.”
The call for expressions of interest is expected out in coming weeks and will include some of the terms and criteria council will use to assess offers.
With the health unit’s April 1 move looming, Smith said he expects a decision sooner rather than later.
“We don’t want to see that building sitting empty,” he said. “So this is pressing. It seems like April 1 is a long time away, but all these processes take time, so obviously the sooner the better.”
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