The Pottsville Club will no longer be rented out for events, as the Redevelopment Authority of the City of Pottsville believes it may be sold within several weeks.
“Our intention has always been to sell the building,” Ian H. Lipton, authority chairman, said Thursday.
The redevelopment authority met Thursday morning at the 201 S. 26th St. property.
“The city has remarkably kept the building in tip-top condition,” Lipton said.
Thomas Palamar, city administrator, said he has recently shown the property at least eight times to potential buyers. He described them as “serious leads” in selling the property.
“In the past 45 days, we have had a lot of interest in the building from various entities,” Palamar said.
Meanwhile, WJP Engineers, Pottsville, has completed plans to subdivide the east section of the property, past the parking lot and along the base of the mountain. Since Miner’s Bank, which bought the Pottsville Club at a sheriff’s sale in February 2014 for $1,418.05 before donating it to the city, was not able to sell the entire 11-acre property, the city decided to include the building and 5.5 acres in its $299,995 asking price and sell the remaining 5.5 acres separately.
Palamar did not know how many easements make up the 5.5 acres, but said there is potential to build homes or apartments on the property.
“We are not in the real-estate business, but we are looking to increase potential growth on the city tax rolls,” Palamar said.
“This area of town is prime real estate,” Joe Devine, city council member, said.
The subdivision plans have been approved by the city planning commission, Palamar said. However, city council has to wait on approving it until the state Department of Environmental Protection lifts its moratorium on new sewer connections.
The moratorium was put in place in 1990 as a way to get the city to make the 1,139 property owners within city limits to separate the storm drains from their sewer pipes. Before DEP could lift the ban by 90 percent, the redevelopment authority had to establish a Corrective Action Plan to correct hydraulic overload at two of its four pumps — the West End Pump Station in Pottsville and the Mount Carbon Pump Station — to bring them into compliance with requirements established by the state.
Lipton said the moratorium should be lifted within the next 60 days.