SEBASTIAN – Former Fire Station No. 9 on US 1 in Sebastian will be up for auction in the coming weeks.
The eyesore facility has sat vacant on the city’s major thoroughfare for several months following the opening of its replacement on Roseland Road. Indian River County Commissioners voted 4-0 to auction off the property at their meeting Tuesday after the county determined it could not sell the site outright to any particular buyer.
Previously, the county had offered to sell the property to the City of Sebastian, but in the course of working out an arrangement, officials realized that the property had to be deemed “surplus” and sold at public auction.
Commissioner Wesley Davis abstained from the vote on Tuesday, noting that – though he would not have “direct” financial gain – he is an auctioneer and has a real estate license, so it would not be “far out of the realm” of possibility that he could be hired to conduct the auction.
Sebastian City Manager Al Minner told his city council last week that the county was expected to auction off the property in the next two to four weeks.
He also said he had spoken with the county’s Emergency Services Department to request the department secure the property and trim back some of the landscaping on the site in the meantime.
Whether the city would bid on the property at auction was not immediately known.
