LaCrosse bank building on FDIC auction block

Bids were due Wednesday to buy the former Bank of Whitman building in LaCrosse. The building was offered by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation which shut down the Bank of Whitman last August.

Pullman Realtor Chud Wendle, who is conducting the sale as an agent for FDIC, said they opted to put the building up for bid because a number of parties have expressed interest in the building.

“Because there’s been so much interest, I think (the FDIC) is trying to whip up a sort of an auction,” said Wendle.

LaCrosse has been without a bank since the FDIC shutdown. Account holders at the bank had the option of continuing with Columbia State Bank which now operates eight of the former 20 Bank of Whitman branches and assumed the accounts under a purchase agreement with FDIC.

The building in LaCrosse also includes the Tea-pot Cafe.

Beth Harvey, a Southlake, Texas, realtor who regularly sells property for the FDIC, said the government agency has not charged the Tea-pot rent since taking over in August.

“In that way, it’s nice to see that our government really does care about communities,” said Harvey. “That’s the only place to eat in town.”

Harvey said the bid process is new to her, as was the level of interest in the building.

“This is not typical. I haven’t, in the two years I’ve been working with the FDIC, seen something come in and get a lot of offers on it,” said Harvey. “But in this case we are.”

Several of those who called her Texas office have been other financial institutions. Harvey said the FDIC may take a smaller price for the building in order to bring a bank back to LaCrosse, though she noted the building has housed two failed banks in its history.

“They are God,” she commented on the FDIC. “They can do what they want.”

Closure of the Bank of Whitman left residents of western Whitman and eastern Adams counties without a bank for the 95 miles of Highway 26 between Colfax and Othello.

Harvey is also the listing agent for several other former Bank of Whitman branches, including buildings in Endicott, Rosalia and Washtucna.

None of those buildings have generated as much interest, she said.