City receives no valid bids for purchase of Rosenbush Warehouse

Demopolis’ effort to sell the Rosenbush Warehouse has not attracted significant interest.

City Clerk Sam Gross announced at Thursday’s city council meeting that no bids were received by Thursday’s noon deadline. One bid came to city attorney Bill Poole’s office, but it did not meet bid requirements.

The warehouse, located behind the historic Rosenbush Building in downtown Demopolis, is historic in its own right. The city stipulated in the bid specs that the building could not be torn down.

The buildings were donated to the city by Bert Rosenbush when his retirement brought the closing of the multi-generational furniture business his family had operated in the city.

In other action Thursday, the council:

• Approved a street light at Osgood and Maria.
• Approved a request from James Michael Grayson for a liquor license for a restaurant at 111-A W. Washington. Grayson is Mayor of Demopolis. He recused himself from the discussion and abstained from the vote.
• Approved a water board request for a 50-cent rate hike to cover a built-in rate increase from Advance Disposal for garbage pickup. The increase will go into effect with the next billing cycle.
• Accepted an Alabama-Tombigbee Regional Commission grant that will pay for a senior citizen to work at the Theo Ratliff Center. The city will pay $1,000 of the cost, with the grant covering the rest.