Norwich — The city likely will own the building that housed the former Martin Luther King Center at 21 Fairmount St., once a hub of youth activities in the city’s West Side neighborhoods.

The court-ordered tax foreclosure auction Saturday drew only one bid, the city’s $59,223.13 to cover the back taxes and legal fees owed in the foreclosure. Attorney Stephen E. Reck, the committee of sale appointed by New London Superior Court Judge Emmet L. Cosgrove, said he will submit the results of the auction to the court on Monday for a final decision on the property.

Beverly Evvard of Sunshine Houses LLC, who recently purchased a four-unit apartment house a few doors down on Fairmount Street, attended the auction but did not register to bid. She said the building looked like it needed too much work for her to tackle.

"I just saw the (auction) sign, and figured I'd come," she said.

The city filed a tax foreclosure action on the defunct former youth center in October 2016 after the center had been closed for three years and had lost its tax-exempt status. When no one representing the former organization appeared in court, the judge ordered legal notices to be published to notify any parties connected with the owner, Martin Luther King Center of Norwich Inc.

None came forward. Heck received keys from M. Garfield Rucker, the last active member of the center's board of directors, but he said they didn’t work to open the building for inspection prior to the auction.

An appraisal filed with the court by Associated Appraisal Services of Norwich valued the property, described as an office building and community center, at $95,000 and said that still would be the “highest and best use” of the property.

“There is a need for a community center in Norwich,” the appraisal report said.

The two-story, 3,551-square-foot house, built in 1910, is listed as a single occupancy in city tax records, but is in a multifamily zone on 0.44 acres. The house is built into a steep hill, with the sheltered yard at the lower level now overgrown with poison ivy, bittersweet and other weeds and brush.

The youth center opened in 1967 and was run by the West Side Community Action Committee. The group struggled financially for years, and the building was closed for about a decade in the 1980s and early '90s, reopening in 1992. Financial struggles and frequent leadership changes ensued during a time when the center had paid staff funded through the city’s Community Development Block Grant, other grants and donations.

Youth programs ranged from dinners and dances to movie and game nights to field trips to museums and other events. Rucker closed the center for good in December 2013, using the last remaining grant money to pay final utility bills before he requested Norwich Public Utilities to turn off the utilities.

c.bessette@theday.com