Durango residents will soon say goodbye to the red Chamber of Commerce building at Santa Rita Park.

In January, the city of Durango put the decades-old, wood-framed building up for auction. Bidders could choose what to do with it – take the building and move it or break it down and sell it for parts – as long as they removed it. By the end of the year, new park amenities are expected to take its place.

“The only real requirement is the building has to be completely removed by March 31,” said Levi Lloyd, Durango operations director. “(The buyer) will be removing essentially everything except for the concrete foundation.”

The city wrapped up its auction Thursday for the building (not the city land underneath). More than 1,500 people viewed the bidding process, with 64 watching it closely.

The selling price was $1 plus tax, with Patrick Solberg of Ohio listing the winning bid.

The city asked bidders to provide a $50,000 bond to ensure they could complete the process to remove the building or demolish it and sell it for parts.

But some aspects of the building’s future remained unclear this week. Solberg said Monday he will not be able to complete the deal with Durango.

“I didn’t know exactly what I was bidding on. I don’t actually have a way to complete the tear down of the building,” Solberg said. “Some of those who were trying to bid just thought it was the purchase of the building with land, which is not the case.”

In the scenario in which the bidder does not follow through, the city has a contingency plan to demolish the building under a separate project underway at Santa Rita Park, said Tom Sluis, Durango spokesman.

The city is still working out plans for the building now that the auction appears to have been unsuccessful.

For decades, the former Chamber of Commerce building was a hub of economic activity. Most recently, the building, built in 1985, served as a laboratory while the city of Durango built its wastewater treatment plant at the park south of downtown.

For some in Durango, the former Chamber of Commerce building was the red building near the park with the restroom, said Jack Llewellyn, Chamber of Commerce president, who worked in the building for a decade.

But it was also the first introduction to the city for many visitors. Hundreds of business owners have stopped by the building to meet with the Durango chamber of commerce, he said.

“So many of those historical memories started at the big, red building at Santa Rita Park,” Llewellyn said.

The chamber building was the birthplace of Leadership La Plata, a community education and leadership skills training program founded in 1988, said Steve Parker, a Durango resident of 41 years and former Chamber of Commerce leader.

Parker was at the groundbreaking ceremony for the building, designed by Dean Brookie, the current mayor, in the 1980s. At the time, the chamber was in a small A-frame building on north Main Avenue. The location was out of the way for visitors and people would park RVs on Main Avenue while stopping by the chamber. Moving to the park was a much-needed improvement, he said.

“We took some heat. There were some people who thought it was a bad idea, especially hotels on north Main Avenue,” Parker said. “It ended up being just a great spot.”

As the building’s sale wrapped up, Llewellyn recalled decades of ribbon cuttings, Durango diplomats and chamber events.

One day, a beaver cut down an aspen tree and left it lying in the parking lot (with a photo appearing in The Durango Herald), he said. On another occasion, more than 200 people crammed inside when the weather acted up during the first ever chamber member appreciation party.

“I had the teary-eyed feeling when we were moving out of there because there were so many memories,” Llewellyn said.

As the city works out its next steps after the auction, the city Parks and Recreation department is preparing to gather construction bids for the park amenities that will go in place of the chamber building, said Cathy Metz, parks and recreation director.

The amenities will include a covered picnic pavilion, two sand volleyball courts and a full-court basketball court. Each court will have lighting for evening use. The amenities were removed when the water reclamation plant construction started, which frustrated some residents.

“There was a strong desire as we were planning for the park ... to bring those amenities back because they really aren’t located elsewhere in our community,” Metz said.

smullane@durangoherald.com