Former Wachovia Bank Building Fails to Garner Bid

The second round of public bidding on the vacant in the heart of Hatboro came to a close without any new bites.

The bidding process expired June 15, and the borough is now set to open up the sale of the borough-owned property to private negotiations.

Borough solicitor Michael Savona recommended during Monday night’s council meeting that the governing body convene an executive session at a future date so that particulars about the process can be ironed out.

The long-empty building, located at 212 S. York Road, was twice put up for public bid in the past few months, but no formal proposals were submitted.

Savona called the building a “valuable asset” and said the borough needs to now refocus its efforts on future negotiations with private buyers.

“We’ve done what we were required to do with the public bidding process,” he said. “So we now need to switch gears to maximize our return through another alternative.”

Although the building remains empty, work has progressed on the property’s exterior, which will benefit from a nearly $200,000 grant that will include renovations to curbing, lighting and landscaping.

Of that funding, the borough awarded an approximately $80,000 contract to Land-Tech Enterprises for Phase One of the initiative, and borough engineer Jim Dougherty said Monday that advertisements for bids for Phase Two should be drawn up by the end of the week.

The award for the Phase Two work is expected to be given by the end of July.