Up for bid: Former school building, doughnut property, other parcels going to tax sale
A former Washington County Public Schools building and a facility that houses a doughnut business are among the properties heading to the county's tax sale.
As of 4 p.m. Friday, the tax sale list included about 250 properties.
Among them was the former Washington County Job Development Center at 22930 Federal Lookout Road near Smithsburg, and the property that houses the Krispy Kreme doughnut shop at 531 Dual Highway in Hagerstown, according to the county treasurer's office.
Each is valued at more than $1 million.
The tax sale will be for properties delinquent on county, state or city real estate taxes, hotel and motel taxes, and other obligations. The auction will start at 9 a.m. Tuesday in the Washington County office building at 35 W. Washington St. in Hagerstown.
As of Friday afternoon, more than 60 bidders had registered. People had until 4 p.m. Friday to sign up, according to the tax sale instructions.
Current owners of the properties have until 4:30 p.m. Monday to pay the back taxes and have the parcels removed from the sale list.
The list, previously published in The Herald-Mail print edition as a legal ad, includes each property's address, assessment and the opening bid. That bid is the amount of outstanding taxes.
Former job development center
The former job development center was built in 1971, according to online deed records. The 10,760-square-foot building sits on 8.94 acres about a mile south of Smithburg.
The job development program moved to Marshall Street School in 2004. Washington County Public Schools used the building for storage for years after that.
In 2016, the Washington County Board of Education transferred ownership of the property to the county commissioners.
In 2018, the commissioners sold the property to Triple Y LLC of Catonsville, Md. The price was $300,000.
The property is assessed at nearly $1.2 million, according to the tax sale documents.
The opening bid is $14,037.
Attempts to contact Triple Y representatives were not immediately successful Friday.
Krispy Kreme property
The property at 531 Dual Highway is assessed at $1,993,900, and the opening bid is $42,036.
The parcel is in the Hagerstown Shopping Center at Dual Highway and South Cleveland Avenue.
A Krispy Kreme doughnut shop operates there.
But the property is owned by K S Cho-3 LLC of North Potomac, Md., according to online deed records.
The franchise opened in 2019. It was the first, and so far, only Krispy Kreme in Washington County.
Attempts to contact K S Cho-3 representatives were not immediately successful Friday.
What happens after the auction?
The end of the sale does not necessarily mean that the winning bidders will get the properties.
The original owners still have six months to redeem them.
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But to do that, the owners will have to pay the winning bidders' costs, including the final bid, and an interest rate of 6%, as well as any other taxes, fees or charges that accrue after the sale.
Bidders eventually can foreclose on properties, although Washington County Treasurer Todd Hershey said in previous reports that it rarely happens.
The county's 2020 tax sale was held outdoors because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
A total of 187 properties were offered, and 127 went to a variety of business entities and individuals. The other 60 did not attract the minimum bid. They were listed as sold to the county commissioners for the minimum price.
Mike Lewis covers business, the economy and other issues. Follow Mike on Twitter: @MiLewis.
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Mail: Washington County's tax sale list includes doughnut shop, other sites
