Rev. John Powell and Truth For Youth, Inc. rejected the city’s $1.5 million offer for the old Smith Bakery property at the corner of Belmont and Devillier streets.
On WCOA this morning, Mayor D.C. Reeves confirmed the offer was $1.4 million plus $100K for contingency and Powell had been given a 4 p.m. deadline yesterday to accept it. If Powell does sell or find other funding to pay off his mortgage, the property will go up for auction on March 22.
“He called me at four o’clock and said, ‘Hey, look, thank you so much and said that he believes he’s got a loan that’s coming from somewhere else and that would happen Friday or Monday. And I said that that’s great and certainly again, respect what he wants to do. He’s a property owner and our interest is in preservation and in that neighborhood.”
The mayor said the city would not get involved in the auction. However, if Powell’s loan falls through, he would be open to completing the deal but the window narrows as March 22 nears.
“I have the authorization to do so now, but again that doesn’t mean we’re going to be calling him or his representatives every day,” said the mayor. “When we start getting a matter of hours 24, 48, 72 hours away from the auction, it does start to get a little complicated in terms of what the city could actually functionally pay off a lien holder and all of those things as well.”