A FORMER church in Dunfermline that was bought for £600,000 just over a decade ago has been sold at auction for a knockdown price of £112,000.
The Yes U Are Partnership had grand plans for a multi-purpose community hub, cafe and arts venue in the Erskine Building, on Pilmuir Street, when they purchased it in 2012.
However a legal issue eventually led to ownership of the category B listed property reverting back to the Alfred Stewart Property Foundation who quickly moved to sell it.
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It went under the hammer in February, through Shepherd Chartered Surveyors, with a guide price of £230,000 but there were no takers.
That was then slashed to £99,000 when it went up for auction again last month, through Auction House Scotland, and this time the old St Andrew's Erskine Church was sold with bidding pushing the price up to £112,000.
Parts of the property date back to 1798 and it was still used by the Church of Scotland up until 1998.
For a time it became a children's soft play facility, the Magical Kingdom, but it closed and the property lay empty and boarded up for years.
Plans to turn it into a Wetherspoon's pub came and went and the partnership, a Christian organisation with charitable status, bought the rundown building for £600,000.
They outlined ambitious plans that would also bring jobs and host everything from weddings and concerts to art exhibitions and business conferences but the vision was never fully realised.
The Press tried to contact the new owners, to find out more about their plans for the site, but has not received a response.
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