Mexico city manager Bruce Slagle worries that the A.P. Green site the city purchased at a foreclosure auction earlier this year will not sell for quite some time.

“We don’t have a timetable,” he said. “Our goal is to make the place viable again and sell it.”

Salvage work continues at the location. There are piles of bricks and other debris. Security fencing was riddled with holes. The city is saddled with $1 million in unpaid NIB bills left when previous owner Abacus Industrial Holdings stopped payments.

And the two main buildings visible from the street are in sorry shape.

Yet Slagle points out that the situation is not that bleak. Income on two leases from businesses using the property – the refractory products conglomerate Harbison-Walker International operates a machine shop on site and Sheraton Valley Wireless of Moberly owns a cell tower – come close to covering the city’s NIB bills.

And Environmental Liability Transfer and its affiliate Commercial Development Company, who purchased the land in 2006, cleaned the area of asbestos, petroleum hydrocarbons and other waste. Slagle points out the site is clean and the city is awaiting a certificate of completion from the Missouri Department of Natural Resources.

But since the city took ownership in February, issues have arisen related to weather and trespassers – “I guess you could say ‘illegal salvage,’ ” Slagle said.

People were gaining access to the property through holes in the fencing. They stole brass fittings from water pipes and other materials and explored the remaining buildings.

During this wave of looting, water was left running. Pipes burst and then rain came. Basements of the two administrative buildings filled as water ran down steps and seeped through walls.

“Right now we’re trying to get the water out of them,” Slagle pointed out. But mold has become an issue.

With the city slowly regaining control, the current project involves identifying easements – the original A.P. Green property has been parceled out over the years — and utilities, as well as verifying that environmental concerns have truly been eliminated.

The city remains committed to the industrial zoning applied to the location. Slagle believes that offers the best chance to eventually sell the land and create jobs.

If it sounds like an industrial-size headache to manage, Slagle points out that it is the only option for the city.

“Ignoring it does not help,” he said. “You have to step in so you can make the property productive again. Who else would do that?”