You can buy, just don't flush

The city of Cincinnati will auction off a former firehouse on Central Avenue, and has cut the asking price from $81,000 to $35,000.

City council member Chris Bortz wanted to know Monday why the asking price dropped so much for the three-story building, located at 2147 Central Ave.

"The property was originally valued at $81,000, but we've had two burglaries where 85 percent of the plumbing was removed," said Michael Jackson, a real estate specialist for the Department of Buildings and Inspections. "We changed the value so we can sell it."

The 5,000-square-foot building was a firehouse in the 1950s and 60s. That changed in the early 1970s, when Citizens Committee on Youth (CCY) moved in. CCY moved out last summer, leaving the building vacant. Burglars tore through several walls to get at the copper pipes.

"It's a big property that we'd like to see in some productive use," Jackson said. "So we're trying to unload it in someone's hands."