ST. MARYS, OH (WLIO) - The City of St. Marys will be looking for a buyer for the former Ohio Guard Armory.
The State of Ohio is selling the building to the city, and when that is finalized, the St. Marys City Council will eventually approve their Community Improvement Corporation to put the over 100-year-old building on the market in the first part of 2023. The cost will be $210,000. The Ohio Nationals Guard moved out of St. Marys in 2020 and the building was in need of repairs then. The city will be looking for a buyer to take on the work needed to make it usable again.
"Yea there are some issues with the building," says Kraig Noble, president of the St. Marys Community Improvement Corporation. "Obviously it is 100 years old. There are issues with HVAC, plumbing, the electrical. So there's some issues involved in rehabilitating the structure, and the ordinance states we want to make sure the buyer is familiar with all of those and has plans and shows financial capability to make that happen."
Noble says there has been some interest in the building, but the state has some stipulations with the sale as well.
"One condition that the state did impose on us, is that the building cannot be demolished for a period of 25 years," adds Noble. "But there can be significate structural improvements, even to the façade of the building. There is some rule about consulting with the state historical society, but they do not have veto power over that."
If you have any interest in the historic building, you can contact Michael Burkholder at the St. Marys City Building.
