There's a free building available in Minneapolis, but you have to take it somewhere else

It's your last chance to get a free 8,500 square-foot Tudor-style ­mansion. But as always, there's a catch.

You'll have to pay to have it moved, and that will be more than pocket change.

The building sits square in the middle of where Alatus, a Twin Cities-based developer, wants to build a 40-story condo tower at 200 Central Av. SE. Though it was once the St. Anthony Commercial Club, the 1929 building is better known for housing a Washburn-McReavy funeral home.

The offering, which has been advertised with a lawn sign and a website, is the result of an edict from the Minneapolis Heritage Preservation Commission, which gave Alatus permission to demolish the building after a three-month effort to find someone willing to repurpose the building.

So far, about a dozen people have inquired, but only one of them was serious. Chris Osmundson, senior development director for Alatus, said the caller's interest evaporated upon learning a local moving company's estimate for the necessary work: $1.5 million.

Though the building is considered a contributing structure to the St. Anthony Falls Historic District, the developer was unable to find a way to use it with a tower design. Moving it is difficult because of its size and location in an area with a lot of traffic.

"Even if you'd like to put forth $1.5 million to move it," Osmundson said, "it's a logistical nightmare."

The quarter-block site was on the market for two years before Alatus bought it, suggesting that other developers also didn't see a lucrative use for it.

Jim Buchta • 612-673-7376