It once housed one of the major employers in North Central Florida.
If some people have their way, it will once again.
Last year police locked the doors of the Taylor Bean & Whitaker Mortgage Corporation in Ocala. A federal agency shut it down after an investigation found examples of fraud. The company offered some of the highest paid jobs in Marion County.
When the company, the fifth largest employer in Marion County closed its doors August 3, 2009 it left more than 1,000 people without a jobs. Since then the 76,000-square-foot building has sat empty. Meanwhile the Ocala unemployment rate has risen to 14 percent.
But almost one year after the ordeal, a local real estate agency has signed on to help bring this building back to business.
"We are on the hunt to find a new tenant for it that will bring jobs and innovation to our community," said Bartow McDonald of Sperry Van Ness, the agency now in charge of finding a tenant.
The price of the building has been reduced by $4 million dollars to $13 million dollars. Sperry Van Ness is willing to share their fees 50/50 with any other firm that brings a new user to the property.
The building could also be leased at $10 a square foot.
The list of possible tenants includes government agencies and national or regional corporations.