School district to sell old central warehouse, vacant lot to the highest bidder

The school district recently sold this warehouse at 506 SE Third Ave., Ocala. [File photo by Jennifer Hunt Murty].

The old central warehouse of the Marion County School Board is going up for sale and will be available to the public to bid on.

The warehouse, at 506 SE Third Ave., and the vacant lot directly to the south will be open to bid on, potentially within the next two months. The downtown property has been owned by the school board since 1912. The vacant lot was used for school board parking.

The school board hired attorney John McGraw—of the McGraw, Rauba & Mutarelli law firm—as outside counsel to advise the board on next steps for the sale. McGraw advised the board that it should sell the warehouse and the neighboring parcel separately.

The school board, along with McGraw, is going to spend the next three weeks coming up with a plan for sale and drafting contracts. Then, the school board must publish notices in the newspaper for three consecutive weeks until an advertisement can be run to begin accepting bid submissions.

The warehouse lot is 1.34 acres, and the lot to the south is 0.26 acres.

As of 2023, the warehouse property had a market value of $1,862,582. The assessed value was $1,313,767, with the value of the land assessed at $838,656 and the value of the building at $1,008,801, according to the Marion County Property Appraiser’s Office.

As of 2023, the southern vacant parcel had a market value of $67,200. The assessed value of the property was $54,113, according to the Property Appraiser’s Office.

The district has since had three appraisals conducted on the properties in preparation for the sale, but the results of those will not be available to the public, said School Board Attorney Jeremy Powers.

“Florida laws specifically provide exemptions for us with public records for appraisals,’’ Powers said. “Somebody who is interested in that property in the area has to make their best estimate of what that property is worth.”

McGraw suggested that to purchase the warehouse, a bidder must provide a deposit of $50,000, sign the purchase and sale agreement, and make an offer on the property. In the same fashion, to purchase the vacant lot, a bidder must provide a deposit of $10,000, sign the purchase and sale agreement, and make an offer on the property.

“There will be an overwhelming amount of offers coming in on these properties. I believe they will be in high demand. And I think that the bid process will get enough people. And there will be enough talk in town that will generate a lot of demand,” McGraw said.

The school board expressed hope that the bid process would be competitive, so that the profits can be maximized to fund new construction in the school district. School Board Chair Nancy Thrower said the process moving forward should be public, transparent and protect the interests of the district.

“Cash is king,” Thrower said. “All cash, no contingencies and fast closing—what else would we want to hear?”