5th Street Pub Sold at Auction for $76K

Going. Going. Gone.

, at 401 W. Fifth St. in Lansdale, now belongs to Lansdale business owner Mohammed Rafiuzzaman.

Rafiuzzaman was the winning bidder at $76,000.

And he does not plan to demolish the building.

"That would cost me too much," said Rafiuzzaman, who was complaining about the borough taking away his U-Haul business.

The sale did not come with a liquor license. Jason Yoder, of Tranzon Alderfer, has been quoted as saying both the auction company and the bank do not know the whereabouts of the license.

When asked what he might do with the property, Rafiuzzaman mentioned the words "hookah bar."

"I have to talk with my family and see what they think. I need to get their opinon," he said.

Rafiuzzaman, a former Lansdale Planning Commission member and vendor at Lansdale Farmers' Market, was one of two bidders on the property. 

The property, , went up for bid at 4 p.m. on Monday at Alderfer Auction Company in Hatfield.

Bidding for the property began at $150,000. There was no 10 percent buyer's premium with the property.

The owner of the property since October 2010, BNB Bank in New York, accepted the bid.

"It's a lot less than they would like," said auctioneer Vernon Martin, president of Alderfer Auction & Appraisal and regional executive vice president of Tranzon Alderfer.

Rafiuzzaman owns at the corner of W. Fifth Street and Cannon Avenue in Lansdale, across from . That property is zoned C-Commercial Bar of Taproom, according to Montgomery County records.

Decades ago, it was the site of JD's Tavern.

According to county records, BNB Real Estate Holdings purchased the property from grantor The 5th Street Pub for $2,486. The 5th Street Pub had purchased the property for $450,000 in 2006 from Brocke/Drissel Real Estate Partnership.

Real estate firm Prudential had attempted to sell the property in the past for a $275,000 asking price.