Local News

City gets one bid for Harder Hall

Photos

Jay Meisel | Highlands Today
Published: February 5, 2013

SEBRING - Historic Harder Hall would likely eventually become a physical rehabilitation facility if details are worked out between the city and NRPIA No. 1 Corp. of Delray Beach, the only entity to submit a bid Monday.

The corporation submitted a bid of $4.2 million, which is $600,000 above the $3.6 million bid it submitted in December, which the company had to withdraw because the city decided to have a new, sealed bidding process.

MVP Properties of Davie, which had also submitted a $3.4 million bid in December, withdrew its bid recently and did not submit a new one.

NRPIA's bid is only the beginning of the process, said Bob Hoffman, assistant city administrator.

NRPIA has 90 days to decide whether to withdraw its bid, he said. Hoffman added that that a three-member committee of the Sebring City Council will review the bid. Ultimately, the city could reject, he said.

Marty Wohl, a local real estate broker, indicated that historic preservation rules, as well as the costs of renovating the building, could be factors in the final decision by NRPIA.

The earlier NRPIA proposal indicated that Marc Covens, a partner involved in the venture, has developed condominiums and shopping centers in South Florida and has a conference center at Florida International University's Bay Vista Miami campus named after him.

Sebring put Harder Hall out for sealed bids after NRPIA submitted a higher bid than MVP Properties.

City officials said then the sealed bid process would prevent bidders from getting access to previous bids.

The city has been trying to sell Harder Hall for years. Although it had received numerous bids previously, none panned out.

The hotel was developed in the 1920s by Lewis F. Harder and Vincent F. Hall, both of West Palm Beach, according to Wikipedia.

Although the hotel was successful for decades and attracted well-known guests, such as Steve McQueen and Mario Andretti, its fortunes plummeted after 1982, according to Wikipedia.

jmeisel@highlandstoday.com (863) 386-5834