Originally home to Indiana Limestone Co. and later used as a college, the former Bedford Development Center sold at auction in July. The city of Bedford, which owned the building, finalized the sale to Gary Manley Friday. Manley purchased the building and adjacent parking lots for $100,000. GARET COBB | TIMES-MAIL
BEDFORD — A piece of Bedford history that has served as a college, business incubator, limestone exhibit and was originally built as the headquarters of Indiana Limestone Co. has a new owner.
Originally home to Indiana Limestone Co. and later used as a college, the former Bedford Development Center sold at auction in July. The city of Bedford, which owned the building, finalized the sale to Gary Manley Friday. Manley purchased the building and adjacent parking lots for $100,000.
The city of Bedford sold the property at 405 I St., to Gary Manley of Bedford for $100,000.
The 36,000 square foot limestone building was offered for public auction July 22. Manley and one other person were the only bidders at the sale conducted by Kinser Auction Service. The city set a minimum bid of $100,000 after trying to market the building for the past year.
In 2020 after the city closed it due to low occupancy, the city listed the property for $356,000.The city did receive one offer in 2020 but the purchaser later withdrew the offer. Earlier this year, the price was lowered to $300,000, but the city received no offers.
On Thursday, during a special meeting of the Bedford Board of Works and Safety, BOW members Charlene Hall, Judy Carlisle and Mayor Sam Craig approved the sale of the building and authorized Craig to sign any documents at the closing.
After the meeting, Craig said he had looked at possible uses for the building by the city but determined it was not feasible in light of the annual maintenance costs of about $26,000.
"We looked at options for the building and it didn't fit any needs for the city," Craig said.
Craig had two goals in mind for the building: To get it back on the city tax rolls and find a buyer that will use the building, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
"The longer it sits there, the more it deteriorates," Craig said.
Future of building
The city had owned the building since 2014 when previous owner Oakland City University donated it to the city.
Manley, the new owner, told the Times-Mail he doesn't have any immediate plans for the building and purchased it because he said the price was too good to pass up.
He said he was bush hogging on his farm when he got a call about the auction. He hopped off his tractor and headed straight over.
Manley, who buys and sells houses and farms, said he had about "two minutes to go up and down" the floors of the building.
"It just looked cheap to me, that's the reason I bought it," he said.
Manley said using an average building cost of $200 per square foot, the building would cost about $7 million to construct today.
"When I was walking through it … those first two offices, those are tremendous … the stone fireplaces, stone walls and the decorative ceiling, it's really something," Manley said.
Land of Limestone
From 1994 until the city closed the Bedford Development Center in 2020, the building was home to the Land of Limestone exhibit, a collection of historic photographs and tools telling the story of Lawrence County’s limestone industry. The exhibit contained more than 200 archival and architectural photographs, historical news accounts, official records, tools and other historical documents.
The city removed the Land of Limestone items from the building and Craig said items such as tools are in storage. Craig said the photos have been digitally stored.
While there are no immediate plans to bring back the entire exhibit, Craig said he hopes to display items from the exhibit in the StoneGate Arts & Education Center in downtown Bedford.
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