In a special session of the Antwerp Village Council on June 27, coming out of a 28 minute executive session discussion, the council, in a split decision and tie breaking vote made by mayor Jan Reeb, decided to allow the the historic depot on West River Street to be sold. Offers by two companies for the depot building and the lot to the west, made to the Village Administrator Brian Davis was a large sum at $500,000.
The depot was built in 1880 by the Wabash, St. Louis and Pacific Railway, and is on the National Registry of Historic Places. The station closed in 1976 and the Otto E Ehrhart historical society purchased the building and relocated the structure about 2000 feet to the west side of the village. In 2008, the Village received the property and the building after the Ehrhart Historical Society dissolved. The Village, with grants and other tax dollars, restored the depot under the direction of then village administrator Sara Keeran for a price of $400,000.
Ohio Administrative code 3796:6-3-02 requires that “no boundary of a parcel of real estate having situated on it a proposed dispensary shall be located within five hundred feet of the boundaries of a parcel of real estate having situated on it a school, church, public library, public playground, public park, or an opioid treatment program.” This means the building site could work for intended purposes of the potential buyers.
Both companies that are wanting the building are vying to receive a lottery number from the state for a marijuana dispensary.
Administrator Davis made sure the contracts were not exclusive due to the nature that only one will get the lottery bid from the state.
