A site formerly used by the Boys and Girls Clubs of Southeastern Michigan in Ypsilanti has been listed by the city for $285,000 and officials hope the property can be redeveloped for a housing project.

The property, at 220 N. Park St., sits on 3.83 acres and has about 7,500 square feet of gym space and a 1,400-square-foot space over a garage. Dave Hamilton of Swisher Commercial said the land is what might prove to be attractive to potential buyers. Hamilton said the building, particularly the gym, would need extensive renovations before it could be used again.

"The gym part, there are roof leaks that have been there for a while and caused some damage to the floor," Hamilton said. "Over the years they tried to fix that, but the building needs an entire new roof if you want to do anything long term in it."

In addition to that, Hamilton said the building is not handicap accessible at all. "It doesn't meet any of today's codes," he said. "That's the reason for the emphasis of the redevelopment on the land."

Hamilton said the site could be used for other purposes, but redevelopment as housing is the "highest and best use" he said.

"It's not really a place for offices," Hamilton said. "If someone wanted to buy it and build a research center, they (the city) might allow that because it's close to those uses. That's not really logically what's going to happen though. It's destined to be residential."

The property has been listed for about a month and Hamilton said he has yet to receive any interest.

"It's early and the market is still recovering," Hamilton said. "As things pick up and the economy returns and developers start looking, this will surface."

Hamilton said the ideal thing to happen would be for the building to be demolished.

City Planner Teresa Gillotti said the Boys and Girls Club decided to move to its new location at 111 S. Wallace Blvd. because the utilities were too costly.

"When they worked out the number of memberships and what it cost to stay there, they decided to break their lease," Gillotti said.

Gillotti shares a similar belief that the property should be marketed for housing. The density of the site will allow for up to 30, two-bedroom units per acre.

"The zoning there is for multi-family residential," she said. "That would be great for residential. It's two blocks from Depot Town."

Katrease Stafford covers Ypsilanti for The Ann Arbor News. Reach her at KatreaseStafford@mlive.com or 734-623-2548 and follow her on Twitter.