8:52 p.m.: City sells first piece of GM property

May 08, 2008 08:50 pm

— By JESSICA KERMAN

ANDERSON — The first sale of property once owned by General Motors will close in the next two weeks, Economic Development Director Linda Dawson said Thursday.
ABBCO, a local school bus maintenance firm, will purchase five acres of land off Noble Street for a total of $70,200.
The property has a small pole barn on it. Gregory and Zonda Jarvis, owners of ABBCO, sought the property to store and fix school buses. The company currently is contracted with Anderson Community Schools for 21 buses, and the company is considering expansion.
The couple originally bid $80,000 for the property, but had to get an environmental survey done on the area for financing purposes, and asked for the price to be lowered.
The Anderson Redevelopment Commission approved the final agreement with ABBCO, and General Motors has 15 days to complete the transaction.
This could be the start of a rebound for the city, Dawson said.
“The General Motors properties are very difficult pieces of property,” she said. “We’ve had a tremendous amount of interest in them recently.”
The city is also close to selling Plant 20, located off 38th Street.
“If negotiations go as anticipated, I’ll call a special meeting of the Redevelopment Commission,” Dawson said.
The 367,000-square-foot building is the newest General Motors building. In July, two companies bid on the property. McCardwell Inc. of Anderson offered $1 million for the property, which was assessed for $3.1 million. Sophia Holdings, of Phoenix, offered $2.6 million, excluding 20 acres of front property that was included in the assessed value.
Dawson could not say what company was negotiating for the property.
“I think Anderson is becoming more widely known as a good place to do business, and the aggressiveness of the community and the city in attracting new business is finally paying off,” she said.