GSA to give online real estate auction another shot

After failling to garner an acceptable bid during a two-month online auction for a piece of commercial property in downtown Bethesda, Md., the General Services Administration re-opened bidding Friday in hopes of generating more interest from prospective buyers.

GSA opened an online auction for the ten-story, 127,000 square-foot building at 7550 Wisconsin Ave. on April 30 but didn’t receive any bids until June 18. The auction for the former home of the National Institutes of Health ended on June 29, but GSA spokesperson Mary Anne Beatty said the closing bid of $10.9 million didn’t meet the agency’s expectation of the property’s value. GSA had suggested an opening bid of $14 million.

Beatty said bidding has increased since the auction was re-opened, and pointed out that the building has more than 50 underground parking spaces and is within walking distance of the Metro.

The top bid is currently $11.5 million from a user named “Bthzdlvr.” The auction is slated to end at 3 p.m. on Tuesday, but any additional activity would cause that deadline to be extended by 24 hours.