Norwich — A committee charged with marketing the long-vacant and possibly contaminated former 751 Club on North Main St. asked the City Council Monday for a second chance to seek developers.

Sofee Noblick, chairwoman of the 751 North Main St. Advisory Committee, told the City Council Monday that the first effort to find a developer yielded no responses after three interested parties backed out. She said two of them were involved in other big projects at the time and couldn't bid, but they may be interested again if the city seeks new proposals.

Noblick also said two adjacent property owners might be interested in the property.

City Corporation Counsel Michael Driscoll said the property, hidden in the woods and down a hill off North Main Street, once was used as a tannery and later as a metal finishing plant, leaving concerns about contamination.

Driscoll said the city has tax liens on the property for nearly $230,000, but because of contamination concerns, the city has not foreclosed on the property. Instead, Driscoll said the request for development proposals would call for turning over the tax lien to the preferred developer and allowing that party to foreclose.

In the 1980s, the property was a private social club targeted by police for illegal activity. The property has been vacant for the past two decades and several arson fires have destroyed much of the building.

City officials have no direct answers on the extent of the contamination, Noblick and Driscoll said. Former Mayor Benjamin Lathrop and planning director Peter Davis went to the state Department of Environmental Protection to try to find environmental testing records, but were told the files were "missing."

But Noblick told the council one interested party also went to the DEP and found documents 12 inches thick on the property.

Mayor Peter Nystrom asked Davis to try to obtain those records for the city. The item was not on Monday's agenda for a council vote. After Noblick's presentation, Nystrom said the council would take up the issue soon.

Noblick said during the next round of development requests, the committee would like to do more marketing, including having a banner erected on the property and having information posted on the city's Web site.