Auction bids are rolling in for the big red "K" that adorned the front of the Kmart on Lake Street in Minneapolis until the store closed earlier this year ahead of the city-owned building's much-anticipated demolition.
More than 40 online bids had been received as of late Friday afternoon, driving the price up from $100 at the start to more than $1,000, according to GovDeals.com.
Bidding ends Dec. 1, and the winner will then have to pay up with a 12.5% fee tacked on before hauling it from storage off N. 2nd Street just east of Interstate 94.
The metal "K" stands 9 feet tall by 11 ½ feet wide and is 1 foot thick. City officials estimate its weight at roughly 900 pounds.
The letter doesn't look quite the same as it did before it came down this year, said city spokesman Casper Hill. Gone is the word "mart" that the K wore in sash-like fashion to complete the store's name.
What does one do with a "K" that when laid down is big enough to seat several for a socially distanced coffee klatch? Residential or business display outside seems logical. Use on a giant-sized Scrabble board seems less likely.
The Kmart discount retail outlet opened on Lake Street in 1977 in the middle of Nicollet Avenue, effectively severing the heavily traveled thoroughfare in the heart of south Minneapolis. A Supervalu grocery store also operated on the same 10-acre tract for many years.
For decades, the Kmart was among the most hotly debated buildings in Minneapolis, if not the entire Twin Cities.
