News Coverage Battle Creek Enquirer – Monday, October 30, 2006
ALBION PROPERTIES UP FOR SALE; CITY HOPES FOR BUYER
ALBION – Four properties in Albion are among 56 commercial parcels in Michigan, Illinois and Ohio put on the auction block recently by a Novi company.
CLK Properties LLC owner Carroll L. Knight said from California that there is one reason he's selling: Money.
"I'm converting them to cash to pursue other business interests," Knight said.
One of those interests is a biodiesel plant he plans to build in Toledo, Ohio.
Listed by NRC Realty Advisors of Chicago, most of the properties are operating gas stations with convenience stores.
The Albion properties on North Eaton Street include a strip mall occupied by several tenants, a vacant restaurant and 27 adjacent acres that run parallel to I-94.
Knight paid about $2.9 million for the three properties in 2000, according to City of Albion Assessor Rich Knapp.
Albion Realtor Farrell Martin said that Knight had made several attempts to purchase a notch of land owned and occupied by True Light Bible Baptist Church that adjoins the strip mall, which would have given Knight a contiguous parcel.
Martin said the most recent negotiation with the church occurred within the past month.
Knight declined to reveal whether the church's refusal to sell to him prompted his decision to put the Albion properties on the market.
Representatives of the church did not return calls for comment.
It was widely rumored several years ago in Albion that Wal-Mart was considering building a store in Albion; Martin said he wasn't aware of the rumors. He also said he didn't know what purpose Knight had in mind for the sites.
Albion City Manager Mike Herman said the city had offered to help him market the property, but that Knight preferred "to do his own thing."
"From our perspective, we think this is good," Herman said. "Hopefully somebody who buys it will try to do something with it. It hasn't been real beneficial from the city's standpoint."
Albion Economic Development Director Peggy Sindt said the city has had several inquiries in the past about the parcels, but no one who wished to be identified.
"There's great potential for that property," she said.
In addition, Knight is offering a small vacant lot on the corner of Eaton Street and Austin Avenue that Albion Mayor William Wheaton says the city may be interested in buying. The minimum bid is $25,000.
However, Herman said the city doesn't have the funds to buy it.
"A group of people interested in the community's image would have liked to have gotten that corner to put landscaping on it to make it look nicer," Herman said.
The intersection is the site of a popular diner, but two other businesses there are closed.
Knight said the construction of the biodiesel plant is dependent on the sale of his portfolio of properties and could not give a launch date.
"It's a product that's going to be in great need in the United States," he said. "It's a 30-million-gallon plant that would take about nine months to build."
The facility would convert soybeans into a product that is added to diesel fuel. "It cuts down on emissions and would reduce this country's dependence on crude oil," Knight said.
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