Pilsen auction to lease building
Staff writer
Lincolnville auctioneer Joe Vinduska has entered a one-month lease for a Marion-owned building that has sat empty for three years.
Planning and zoning secretary Margo Yates told Marion City Council members that the Vinduskas will pay $200 per auction held there. That is twice the amount they usually pay, Yates said.
“They’re also going to clean the building and leave it clean,” she said.
Council members voted to approve the lease.
Vinduska and his wife, Tish, have operated an auction business, Pilsen Packrats, from buildings in Lincolnville and Pilsen in the past.
At this time, their son helps also with the business.
Vinduska said if the lease works out, the business might stay at the 828 N. Roosevelt St. location.
It’s become difficult to book the Pilsen community center for auctions, he said.
“Lincolnville is the same way, they’re booked way up,” Vinduska said.
It’s been 11 years since the Vinduskas had their own building for the auction business.
“This is a lot more building than we need, and this is a trial basis,” Vinduska said. “We’ll go from there.”
The building has been empty since 2018, when Central Perma Column and Power Track Sliding Door Systems of Kansas defaulted on its lease purchase agreement. The city filed suit in April 2018 seeking $28,327.63 and dismissed the lawsuit two months later.
Jesse and Symba Newman, who lived at Marion Reservoir, struck an agreement to purchase the property in 2018, but never opened a business there.
Expedition Wind agreed in 2019 to purchase the building, but sold the wind farm it was developing in the southern portion of the county to Danish company Orsted in June.
Orsted has not yet committed to purchasing the building.
Pilsen Packrats has contracted a food truck to provide meal service for auctions at the N. Roosevelt St. location.