By By Arthur McLean
The buyer of the Atmore Kmart building is still up in the air after Hurricane Ivan.
The potential buyer of the property has changed, said Tom Hanley, a partner in Tranzon Hanley, the firm that auctioned the building and 11 other Kmart properties this summer.
According to information obtained by the Atmore Advance, the buildings original intended buyer was a local business interest, but a dispute over roof damage from Hurricane Ivan has cooled the deal.
Hanley would not say who the new prospective buyer is, but indicated their presence was more regional than local.
Hanley said he could not divulge any information about the pending sale, but believed it would be two to three weeks before the deal was closed.
A local buyer was originally the winning bidder at the end of August when the auction closed.
The 94,841 square-foot facility, located on Lindberg Avenue, has been empty since Kmart closed in the spring of 2003. The closing was part of massive changes in Kmart's retail structure. The Atmore location was auctioned along with 11 other Kmart properties put up for sale by one of Kmart corporation's lenders.
Hanley said there was quite a bit of interest in the property, and that the auction was competitive, but none of the bids reached the seller's reserve price.