County Drops Price On Korte Building

The price has gone down for the building that was once planned to be used for the Crawford County coroner.

Commissioners on March 7 voted to drop the price on what is known as the Korte building on Highway 19 in Cuba.

Commissioners lowered the price to $134,900, down $5,000 from the asking price. 

The building was appraised last year at $140,000.

Including closing costs, the county paid around $149,000 for the building in December 2020. 

The building is next to the Cuba license office.

Commissioners abandoned plans to repurpose the garage as the coroner’s office after purchasing the former Three Rivers Publishing building in February 2023.

Commissioners briefly discussed finding some use for the building, but settled on putting it on the market.

The county budgeted more than $1 million for the project. Presiding Commissioner Steve Black came into office last year with doubts about the project. It was scuttled and the commissioner quickly turned attention to the TRP building.

The county has another building in Cuba — the Tutterow building — that was purchased in fall 2022 for $424,000.

During a meeting in March, Black said he had been contacted by a prospective buyer, who balked at the “extreme” price tag.

Commissioners have a contract with Coldwell Banker as the listing agent on the Korte building. That contract will expire this spring.