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04/28/2014
The old AMCORE Bank building in South Beloit went for $160,000 at auction on Wednesday.
Bids opened on April 14 and the entire auction took place online. Rick Levin and Associates, a Chicago-based auction firm, ran the auction until Wednesday at 11 a.m.
Bids started at about $50,000 for the 3,444 square-foot building at 640 Blackhawk Blvd. There was a total of 61 bids from four different bidders over the 10 days. Bidding didn’t really pick up until Tuesday and Wednesday morning. The initial bid of $50,000 was first made on April 16, and the next bid didn’t come until Monday, according to Levin’s website, www.ricklevin.com.
Rick Levin, president of the auction firm, said unlike live auctions that are done in a day, online auctions can vary in interest during the auction period.
“What’s so interesting is even though the bidding is open for a week or so often times the bidding doesn’t pick up until the final hour,” he said.
Only two people bid on the building until Wednesday morning when two others jumped in. The top two bids were at $160,000, however, Levin said the winning bidder most likely put in an automatic bid.
“So instead of being next to their computer all the time they set a max that they were willing to bid,” he said. “The online agreement states that the auto-bidder wins.”
On April 9 and 16 an on-site inspection was held at the building, and Levin said about 10 people came to each inspection. It’s hard to tell a person’s interest just by meeting them, Levin said.
“After doing these auctions over the years sometimes the people that seem interested aren’t interested, or don’t have any money. Sometimes it’s the ones that don’t look interested are actually interested.”
According to the appraisal on Levin’s website, the 11,760 square-foot lot was valued at about $500,000. Levin said the owner of the property has a couple days to accept the offer, and it will take about 30 to 45 days before closing on the building. The contract was already drawn up by the owner prior to the auction, Levin said, so potential buyers had access to it before bidding.
Rockford-based AMCORE bank sold the property to BMO Harris Bank in 2010 after AMCORE went out of business. BMO Harris closed the branch shortly thereafter in October 2012. The location was one of 24 that were closed by BMO Harris in 2012.
Shaun Zinck
Beloit Daily News
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