Norwich – A large two-building complex on Main Street once envisioned for a heritage discovery museum is slated for a tax foreclosure auction sale May 19 as the city tries to recover about $125,000 in back taxes, legal fees and court costs.

The buildings at 77-91 Main St., owned by D.J. Norwich Enterprises LLC, are scheduled to be sold together at an auction slated for noon Saturday, May 19, on the Main Street side of the complex. Attorney James Young was appointed by New London Superior Court to conduct the sale.

The city will bid about $125,000 to cover the $117,687.57 in accumulated back taxes owed, plus legal and court fees, said attorney Aimee Wickless, who is handling the foreclosure for the city. Chelsea Properties LLC, headed by North Haven developer Eugene Singer, has two mortgages totaling $1.2 million on the property.

The five-story buildings have frontage on Main and Water streets, with the third story serving as the street level on Main Street and the ground floor being at street level on the much lower Water Street side.

The buildings were proposed as the Norwich Heritage Discovery Center in the 1990s and early 2000s, but after receiving a $1 million state Department of Economic and Community Development grant and $800,000 from the city for structural repairs and to prepare the buildings for development, other funding never materialized.

In 2009, DJ Norwich Enterprises, headed by Norwich developer Janny Lam, took ownership through foreclosure and created several storefront spaces for restaurants and small shops. State business records now show DJ Norwich Enterprises is headed by president Henry Shen and members Chu Ling-Chiao Shen and Chen-Ping Shen, all of Flushing, N.Y.

Three businesses occupy storefronts, Ice & Fire Asian Cuisine on Main Street and Sunlight Foot Spa and JC Image Hair Salon on Water Street. Owners of the businesses were not available for comment Monday.

The upper stories are vacant and unfinished. Appraiser Howard Russ of Riess Appraisal Co. of Norwich placed the market value at $310,000 for the tax foreclosure. Russ said only 20 percent of the space is renovated and usable. The remaining 80 percent of the combined total 38,434 square feet is gutted, but not renovated. There’s an elevator shaft but no elevator, and a second stairway is needed, Russ wrote.

Russ estimated complete renovation would cost about $3 million, but added: “There is no economic demand to complete this renovation at the present time.” Russ wrote the adjacent Mercantile Exchange complex features “Class A office space,” but has a high vacancy rate.

Norwich Community Development Corp., the city’s economic development agency, had rented an office at 77 Main St. in the complex before moving to its Foundry 66 facility at 66 Franklin St. in October 2016.

Several city officials said Monday no potential bidders have contacted them about the two buildings, but NCDC President Robert Mills said he has had general inquiries about economic conditions downtown.

New London Superior Court Judge Emmet Cosgrove approved the foreclosure auction Feb. 13 after the city attorney first asked for a strict foreclosure that would have given the city ownership of the buildings outright. Current owner DJ Norwich Enterprises objected, arguing the market value exceeded the taxes owed the city.

In April, DJ Norwich Enterprises attorney Edward Bona filed a motion to delay the sale, saying the owners had a developer ready to buy the property for $500,000, well above the appraised value. But Bona withdrew the motion last week, and the sale is scheduled to go forward.

c.bessette@theday.com