New owner expected to close on Tanks bar by end of May

Thomas Gnau, Dayton Daily News, Ohio
Updated ·2 min read

Apr. 18—The property that was Tanks Bar & Grill may soon have a new owner.

"We close on the property on or before May 30, so it won't be long," Karen Huelsman, a Realtor with Irongate Realtors, Inc. and president and auctioneer with Innovative Auctions, Inc, said Wednesday.

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A sale of the Wayne Avenue bar fell through last year, and an auction was scheduled for the bar and a few nearby properties earlier this month.

Huelsman declined to identify any of the bidders or the soon-to-be owner.

The auction business said five parcels were to be conveyed for one price. The minimum bid was put at $259,000.

Properties at and near 2033 Wayne Ave., in Dayton, were to sell to the high bidder, with an additional 10% "buyer's premium" to establish the contract price.

Those included properties included 21 Anderson St., 2033-35 Wayne, 2101 and 2107 Wayne and 0 Wayne, an address for an attached bathroom.

"It went well, several qualified bidders," Huelsman said of the auction. "Successful bidders are 'in the business', (and they) have asked to keep their information confidential at this time."

Depending on the new owner's plans, the deal may involve more than real estate. Owner Debbie Tankersley told the Dayton Daily News earlier this month that, if the new owner re-opens the site as a new iteration of Tanks, the new owner can expect a tavern-warming gift — the original recipes from the bar's "scratch kitchen," she said.

"If someone else opens it up as Tank's, they will have the original recipes," Tankersley said.

Since opening in 1987 in the former home of Walnut Hills Bar, Tank's became a familiar hangout and meeting place.