BIDDEFORD — The vacant Shaw’s supermarket building on Alfred Street in Biddeford sold for $4 million at foreclosure auction on Friday.

Some 30 investors, business developers and members of the public showed up at the empty building, located on 8.29 acres of land just off Exit 32 of the Maine Turnpike late Friday morning.

The nearly 56,000-square-foot building, at 510 Alfred St., has been vacant since July 4, 2015, when business operations at the location ceased.

Shaw’s opened on Alfred Street in Biddeford in 1997 and at the time was the only supermarket in the immediate area. But business began to wane after the opening of family-owned store Market Basket about a mile down Route 111 from the Shaw’s in 2013.

The building, which as of 2016 was co-owned by Shaw’s and Biddeford Investment Associates, is valued at nearly $5.7 million, according to city assessment records.

The auction was handled by South Portland-based Keenan Auction Co., for whom the Shaw’s auction was their 7,538th overall. Auctioneers Stefan Keenan and David Reed oversaw the bidding.

A deposit of $50,000 was required by all bidders, with that being returned to unsuccessful bidders following auction. Keenan said that within five calendar days, or by Wednesday, the winning bidder must add onto that deposit enough money to equal 10 percent of purchase price.

The remaining balance on the winning bid must be paid within 45 days, Keenan said.

The winning bid for the building, went to Stephanie Williams, attorney for a bank foreclosing on the property.

Following the bid, Williams said, the building will be returned to the bank and continue to be overseen by its manager, Portland-based Boulos Property Management.

“Boulos will market it and maintain it. They’ll deal with it in sort of a management way,” she said.”I can’t say tomorrow what’s going to happen, but assuming it is owned, if you will by the bank then Boulos will oversee the property and make sure people can get in who might want to buy it.”

The former store, is just 600 feet from Biddeford’s highway exit and has been viewed as a prime retail location by some investors.

Sheldon Ashby, the owner of Ashby Real Estate in Portland, was present at the auction Friday. While he entered no bid, he said the location would be ideal for a box store or other retail shop.

And while Ashby said he rarely buys outside of Portland, competitive pricing for real estate in Biddeford is enticing.

James Jasper, who oversees business development at the Biddeford + Saco Chamber of Commerce + Industry, attended the auction not to bid, but to gain perspective on the number of potential bidders expressing interest in the Biddeford and Saco area.

Given the proximity to the highway and with the anticipated construction of a new county courthouse on U.S. Route 1, just over a mile away from the Shaw’s building, Jasper said the property is ideal for new business development.

“In both cities, both Biddeford and Saco, there’s lots of opportunities for growth and, with all these developers interested in a piece of property not just in the downtown but in all of larger Biddeford and Saco area … the growth that you see is everywhere you go,” he said. “The Chamber just wants to help in any way with that development.”

But despite a high bid and definite interest in the vacant building, the future of the property is still uncertain.

“There’s no way for me to say” what the store could be, Williams said. “A lot of things could happen between now and tomorrow.”

— Staff Writer Alan Bennett can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 329 or abennett@journaltribune.com.

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