Photo courtesy of Scott Griggs

Photo courtesy of Scott Griggs

This must be the best real-estate deal in Oak Cliff.

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Developer Alamo Manhattan is offering the 109-year-old cottage at 228 W. Seventh for $0 to anyone who can have it moved away.

Alamo Manhattan wants to demolish the cottage, which was built for $850 in 1907, to make way for a temporary construction trailer and eventually, a planned second phase of its Bishop Arts development.

The house was the first to receive a review under the city’s new preservation rules that require a hearing before certain old properties can be demolished.

The developer found that rehabbing the structure to use for their construction office isn’t feasible, Landmark Commission member Michael Amonett says.

They are in contact with someone who is considering moving the house to a nearby location, but that isn’t a sure thing, and the developer is giving it until January to see how that plays out. Which means, anyone who seriously wants this old house should contact Alamo Manhattan with an offer to move it.

“If no one takes it, its historic materials will be salvaged, so they won’t just go to the dump,” Amonett says.

Amonett researched the house and found that its builder was Mrs. E.M. Avera. She apparently didn’t build it for herself as a 1909 phone book listing shows the residents as R.F. Wright and C.L. Morrison.

Once the house is moved, a construction trailer will be placed on the lot until the first phase of Alamo Manhattan’s development is complete. After that, the lot could be vacant for up to seven years pending the planned second phase.

Check out this 2011 story from the Seattle Times about a couple who paid $1 for a sturdy old house and paid about $22,000 to move it.