PIERRE, S.D. (KELO) — South Dakota state government continues to own 8,092 square feet of empty office building in northwest Rapid City, after no one submitted a bid at an auction earlier this week.

This was the third attempt to auction the former West River Research and Extension Center.

Now state School and Public Lands Commissioner Ryan Brunner, who’s responsible for trying to sell it, says he plans to talk again with officials at South Dakota State University about how to proceed.

Brunner said Friday there was some interest in the building, which was constructed in 1996, but no one came forward willing to pay the state-required minimum of $795,000.

“I had sort of anticipated that but we never know unless we hold an auction to find out,” Brunner said. “Some of the comparable sales in the appraisal were on the market two to four years.”

He continued, “The difficult part about the building is it is a fixed size without contiguous land for expansion. For some people it is too big and for some it is too small and can’t be expanded.”

Brunner has another auction set for September 16 in Custer: The state’s former juvenile detention complex known as STAR Academy. This is the third attempt to sell it, too.