MORRISTOWN – The Mediterranean restaurant property off U.S. 40 west of Morristown will soon have a new owner.

Belmont County Commissioners put the property up for public auction Wednesday afternoon with the intention of getting rid of it. In fact, there was not minimum bid set during the auction.

The property, appraised last year as being valued at around $124,000, received a high bid at auction Wednesday of $45,000. With a 10-percent buyer’s premium required for the purchase, the property will be sold for a total of $49,500.

Commissioners said they were pleased with the turnout at the auction and the final price that was offered. The winning bidder, Mark Balcar of St. Clairsville, said he was also happy to receive the property at that price.

Although a couple of dozen people showed up for the auction – which took place in the massive old building with no heat or electricity – only two active bidders nodded to figures thrown out by auctioneer Dave Jones of Homeland Realty, who donated his services for the auction.

Balcar owns the property adjacent to the Mediterranean. Mine Services Inc. is a drilling company located next door to the facility, and purchasing the property was a natural fit for his business.

“For now, we plan to use the building as a warehouse for equipment storage and use the lot for parking,” said Balcar, who will add 15 acres of land at the site where who already owns 5 acres. “I really don’t know what to do with the building yet. The building obviously needs a lot of work, but it was built pretty stout. It’s withstood years of neglect, even before the county owned it.”

Balcar said he was living in Colorado during the days when the Mediterranean was in operation as a unique and popular restaurant. He said he did know that the builder of the restaurant also built his facility on the adjacent property.

After the restaurant closed several years ago, the agency then known as the Belmont County Committee on Aging expressed a desire to purchase the property and operate out of the sprawling facility which overlooks Interstate 70, yet does not have complete interchange access to the highway.

The board of commissioners at the time facilitated the purchase of the Mediterranean property for the Committee on Aging, a private agency which was contracted by the county to provide services to seniors. Previous board members have stressed that the purchase was made because of a court order mandating them to do so on behalf of the agency. A total of $185,000 from funds generated through county senior services levies was use to purchase the property.

It was later determined that it would cost around $750,000 to renovate the facility. The county and the Committee on Aging fell under a firestorm of criticism over the purchase back then.

Since then, the Committee on Aging has become Belmont Senior Services, which operates out of the county’s Oakview facility west of St. Clairsville. The county has made numerous efforts to sell the property over the past several years. A number of parties had expressed interest in the facility, but no buyers sealed the deal.

In December 2008, the board of commissioners put the property out to bid. One bid in the amount of $16,500 was received. That bid was rejected.

Last year, officials said a serious potential buyer was prepared to move forward with a deal, ready to purchase the property for $100,000. Officials said they were shocked with the potential buyer suddenly passed away just before the deal was closed.

The current board of county commissioners were determined to unload the property this year. After the sale is complete, the property – which had been tax exempt since it was county-owned – will go back on the tax books. Jones explained to bidders that the purchase price will be considered the value of the property for tax purposes until the next valuation.

The Mediterranean building had been used for storage of volumes upon volumes of old county records in recent years. Those records have since been moved. According to the terms of the sale, the building and the property are being sold “as is,” and any item left inside will become property of the new owner.

Money from the sale of the property will be returned to Belmont Senior Services.

Ayres can be reached at eayres@timesleaderonline.com