County sells old Douglas Asphalt building, renames portion of Elmer Grantham Road

David Varnedore is the new owner of the building located at 101 North Peterson Avenue, known locally as the old Douglas Asphalt building.

After sitting vacant for many years, the county bought the building in December of 2018 for $225,000. The county planned on renovating the building and using at an annex to the courthouse. However, the final renovation price tag far exceeded the initial estimate. The county eventually decided to sell the building and accepted bids last week.

At Monday’s regular county commission meeting, commissioners discussed the bids. Two individuals submitted bids – Tony Robertson ($225,000) and Varnedore ($237,500). Commissioners voted unanimously to approve Varnedore’s high bid. Varnedore was not at the meeting and has not announced what he plans to do with it.

The commission also approved the following items:

• Renamed a portion of Elmer Grantham Road to Legacy Lane.
• Named Connie Lott to the Concerted Services Board and Matt Baker to the EDA Board.
• Street and drainage improvements for Shell Bell Road and Whippoorwill Road for $741,385.62. East Coast Asphalt will perform the work.
• Surplus 80 SCBAs and one Canon copying machine to govdeals.com.