July 27. By Dave Vieser. If at first you don’t succeed, try again. And so it is with Cornelius’ attempt to sell a 4,320 square foot public works building on Starcreek Drive.

Town commissioners have approved the start of a new bidding process. It has already received an offer of $620,000 from Michael Crum of Huntersville, the same individual who bid $671,000 on the same building the first time around.

“This will allow other offers to be submitted to the town for a 10 day period,” said Assistant Town Manager Tyler Beardsley. “If no other offers are submitted, the original offer is accepted and the sale can proceed to closing.”

North Carolina is one of just a few states in the country which uses a 10-day upset bidding period, so now with the clock running any prospective buyer has 10 days to outbid the current bid. If a new higher bid is placed, the 10-day period restarts.

A previous attempt to sell the Starcreek building fell apart earlier this year after Crum, upon doing due diligence, pulled out of the deal just as the coronavirus epidemic was starting to unfold in North Carolina. Part of Crum’s concerns involved the condition of the HVAC inside the structure. At that time, the town also decided to perform an additional environmental analysis to make sure the site was ready to be rebid.

In other action, the board:

—Approved the addition of $158,432 in asset forfeiture funds for use in acquiring various police related equipment including two fully equipped 2020 Ford SUV vehicles.

—Accepted Neville Avenue, Glenealy Drive and a portion of Meetinghouse Drive in Bailey’s Glen as town streets, along with Autumn Meadow Lane in Jetton Place.

—Set Monday August 17 for a public hearing to consider the voluntary annexation of 15.29 acres located on Mt. Zion Parkway and known as Cornelius Woods