City officials said weeks ago the old Liquidation Outlet! building across from Auburn City Hall would be down in time for Saturday’s Veterans Day Parade.

Indeed, by the end of last week, the building at 30 W. Main St., was nothing but a pile of rubble.

The storefront on West Main opposite City Hall had been empty for nearly 10 years, its owner, Washington Bank clinging on to its holding despite the building’s poor condition and, at one point, the City’s offer to raze it along with Frostad’s Rexall Pharmacy and the old Charlie Wong building.

Private developers Levan Auburn Development, LLC, of Los Angeles, and Iounnou, LLC of Seattle, purchased the building last spring from Washington Bank.

Not just that property, either, they also bought the parking north of the Sun Break Café at 22 A St. SW, and most of the parking lot east of the cafe. Purchase price: $990,000.

In June, the same group plunked down $275,000 to buy from Gerald Honeysett the old Charlie Wong lounge site, which shared its west wall with the Liquidation Outlet.

The common wall, west of the Auburn Downtown Plaza, was an infamous eyesore.

History was attached to these properties.

By a previous agreement, the Stratford Group, a real estate development firm, which had at one time owned most of the block immediately south of City Hall – the exceptions being the Charlie Wong property and the Sun Break Café – had been required to notify the City by the close of business on April 1, 2009 whether it intended to proceed with its development plans. No such notification was received.

And when Stratford’s plans fizzled, Washington Bank acquired the parcels in bankruptcy proceedings.

The owners of the holdings have not yet filed development plans with the City of Auburn.