County gets no takers for Feed & Grain property

The Daily Inter Lake

There were no bidders at a Friday morning public auction of the county-owned Kalispell Feed & Grain property.

The county acquired the 15-acre site - located on the west side of U.S. 93 south of Kalispell where the railroad tracks once crossed the highway - through a tax deed in December 2006. The commercial property is appraised at $1.9 million.

Nearly $1 million in back taxes was owed on the property when the county took it over, Deputy County Attorney Jonathan Smith said.

Richard Martin owned the land and operated the feed business for a number of years, but then went out of business. Martin rented out the property for a time, but never paid the taxes, Smith said.

When he filed for bankruptcy, the court wouldn't allow the county to take a tax deed. Martin later died, and his heirs weren't interested in paying the delinquent taxes to keep the property.

Terms of the sale were 10 percent of the successful bid in cash at the time of sale, with the balance due in 48 hours. A couple of people showed up for the auction at the Justice Center, Smith said, but there were no takers.

The county will continue an ongoing assessment of possible contamination at the site. Once that's finished, the county will try again to auction the property.