News

City Hall sale approved to the highest — and only — bidder

Williamsport City Council has accepted the highest and only bid for City Hall at 245 W. Fourth St., marking the sale of the historic, albeit condemned, building.

The resolution was prepared for council to consider to accept the bid for the building and authorize proceeding with negotiating an agreement of sale, said Scott Williams, assistant director of community and economic development and planning.

The city received one bid on Sept. 30 after the invitation for bids went out July 31 and the bid period closed in the amount of $455,000.

After review the city found it was a complete bid and conformed to the invitation for bids issued. This is agreeing to the terms of the sale, but now the city needs to make a sales agreement. That sales agreement will have to come back before the council to officially vote on and solicitors would negotiate the agreement.

The resolution was approved 5-2 with Councilman Adam Yoder and Councilwoman Liz Miele voting no.

The bid was submitted by John Basalyga, owner of JBAS Realty of Jessup. Basalyga bought and turned the former YMCA building down the block into modern apartments.

He previously bid $555,500 on the condemned, historic building. That letter of intent was March 2023 with possession slated for Aug. 1 of that year.

Basalyga said when he bid before that he had no intention of demolition or major changes to the exterior of the building, which is on the National Register of Historic Places.

Before the roll call vote, Councilwoman Liz Miele and Councilman Adam Yoder each had brief statements in their conversation with Williams.

"When they say that they complied with the specs in the bid we mean that they are obviously aware that they are building in the Central Business District (CBD) and they were OK with the ... conditions -- at what point in the agreement of sale is when we will negotiate on the idea of the city getting right of first refusal if they were to sell the structure things like that?" Miele asked.

That will be in the agreement of sale, Williams affirmed.

Miele thanked Williams and everyone in the city administration and on council for the time they put into this effort.

"I think we did put together a good Invitation for Bids (IFB) given the options that were available to us," she said, adding her appreciation for the work done by the entire city team before the roll call vote was taken.

Yoder, too, added it was unfortunate there was one bid. Three years ago the city received three bids, two of which were responsive.

He suggested that if there were more bidders to the table the city might yield more than what is being offered.

"Unfortunately, in this challenge of trying to offload this facility we have not been hitting our stride and getting developers that are newer to Williamsport and that would certainly be of value here in trying to drive up the price that would be yielded back to the city," he said.

"I will be interested in seeing what's in the agreement of sale, what's being negotiated etc. but nothing's really changed for me in this either," he said.

The building was constructed between 1888 and 1891 as a post office. It also contained a courtroom and facilities for a federal judge. It became City Hall in 1979.

It has been vacant since September 2021 due to structural damage and cost to make accessible upgrades under the Americans with Disabilities Act.