FAIRHOPE, Ala. (WKRG) – A prime piece of real estate in downtown Fairhope has sold. 301 Fairhope Ave. went on the auction block March 24th, with bids starting at $950,000.

The online auction closed March 29th with the high bid of $1.6 million. Since 1922 the building has stood at the corner of Fairhope Ave. and Church St. in the heart of downtown.

“It was built to house the People’s Cooperative Store & Bakery. It was really reflective of single tax and E.B. Gaston’s ideas on cooperative individualism. It was import to the people here,” said Gabriel Gold-Vukson, Fairhope History Museum director.

Through the years it went on to house department stores, a Piggly Wiggly grocery store and most recently Fairhope Hardware, which occupied the 12,240 square-foot two-story building from the 1980s until 2017.

There’s no word yet as to what the new owner plans to do with the property.