Fall River’s plans to sell the dilapidated Silvia School hit a wall. This is why it got stuck.

FALL RIVER — Since 2013, the city has tried unsuccessfully to sell and redevelop the dilapidated Frank M. Silvia Elementary School and public school administration complex at 138 Hartwell St.and during Tuesday night’s city council meeting, two proposals to redevelop the property were rejected due to an error in the bidding process.

City Manager Seth Aitken said at the meeting that he has asked the city to “resubmit the case.” He further reported that City Council Member Michelle Dionne “noticed an issue,” and that this processing snag “voided the bids.”

Aitken explained that “the way it should be done” requires the price proposal for a property to be sealed, and the proposal to be reviewed by the bidding committee. Development proposals are vetted for their benefits to the city, Aitken said, “and then the price is revealed.”

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“Because the price is very clearly in one of them,” Aitken said of one of the two bids received, “we have a process that is flawed, without any way to reverse the ethical dilemma associated with price information released too quickly . “

The rebidding will take place under “proper procedure,” Aitken said, with Silvia School prevented from moving to the Real Estate Commission. It is uncertain when a second bidding round will take place.

The proposals were originally due on October 25 at 2:00 PM and the minimum bid was $20,000.

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Why has the Silvia School remained untouched all these years?

The former school, built in 1902, has been empty since 2003.

Around 2017, the city council approved David Herbert, a real estate developer and businessman, as the buyer. The contaminated property was then sold for $5,000, contingent on Herbert’s promise to develop the building into a boutique hotel and restaurant while maintaining its historic character.

Those plans never came to fruition and Herbert tried to resell the property without success.

In January, the city of Fall River regained ownership of the property. The city, under the advice of the Preservation Society of Fall Riverexercised a reverter clause to reclaim the property as Hebert had not developed it as planned.

Former Mayor William Flanagan, owner and operator Cosmopolitan pharmacy at 82 Hartwell St.which is adjacent to the destroyed school, recently said he wanted to buy it and would do so spend as much as $3 million to demolish the property and “donate” a green space to the city.

The building is on Fall River’s list of significant structures and the Massachusetts Historical Commission Databaseand has an automatic six-month grace period for any demolition plans.

It is not known whether Flanagan submitted a bid for the Silvia School before the deadline late last month.

Mayor Paul Coogan had said in a January interview that he would like to take advantage of that corner that greets motorists exiting Interstate 195 on a main artery into downtown Fall River. “You come into town… and we have a building there that’s falling apart right before our eyes.” The goal then was as it is now: to redesign the languishing building with a more aesthetic appearance and purpose.

This article originally appeared on The Herald News: Fall River proposals to sell old Silvia school ‘invalid’