There’s a new push to sell the Itmann coal company store building in Wyoming County. The almost 100-year-old building has a rich history as a former store and business office owned by Issac T. Mann.
Today, it comes with some memories and a lot of expensive repairs. Current owner and former state Sen. Billy Wayne Bailey is hoping real estate agent and historian David Sibray can find the right buyer.
Foxfire Realty and the Wyoming County Historical Society hosted an open house earlier this month.
“Again and again, what occurred to me is just how important this building is to all of that community, not certainly just in the town, but all of the county as well,” Sibray said. “Everyone has some relationship to that building. It turned out that I had a relationship with that building … kids who sat there and ate candy in the breezeway, people who went to get their checks, people who bought all their furniture, people who bought all their food.”
Sibray specializes in historical sales. In a way, he says it’s part preservation.
“It’s about knowing a lot more than that building,” Sibray said. “And a lot more than what’s economically going on. Like certainly, in this case, you’ve got the new [Coalfields] Expressway, you’ve got the ATV trails, you’ve got the Guyandotte water trail, you have
broadband access, all of those things go into knowing what you’re doing with any sort of property. But when you’re selling something as big as this, you have got to know all of that.”
It cost $25,000 when Bailey bought it. The current listing price is $499,000. Despite the financial jump, Sibray says it’s an appropriate price.
“Whoever buys this building is going to need to have the ability to do a lot of work with the building,” Sibray said. “I mean, it’s going to cost millions of dollars. And my job also for the owner is to leave no money on the table.”
“To some extent, it prevents people from wanting to buy the building and tear it down. There are people who would like to remove the building and move the stone. This building also is being sold on the global market Foxfire Realty, our specialization has always been because we work with properties that are large scale properties, we have to go nationally.”
The building has sparked interest and some interesting conversations.
“As far as buyers’ potentials, we’ve had several people who have come forward who have expressed interest and they seem to be viable owners,” Sibray said. “But the wheels of this train move slowly. So it may take a little time for people to work out how exactly the purchase of this building might be managed.”
If the building sells, Sibray is optimistic about the impact it could have in this tiny community.
“I can’t imagine it being anything other than a good outcome,” Sibray said, “as long as it’s repaired.”