The Manchester Inn & Conference Center and the adjacent Sonshine building are for sale for $325,000.

And the future of the former hotel, restaurant and conference center, according to City Manager Judy Gilleland will be tied into the vision for downtown Middletown, which revolves around education, entertainment, the arts and downtown living.

“It’s very possible that a proposal comes forward for loft apartments in the Manchester, perhaps some condos and a few hotel rooms,” she said. “It’s possible a combination of hotel and living space could come forward.”

The city had attempted to sell the Manchester before listing it on Monday. And in the past year, “there’s been a great deal of interest” but nothing concrete, Gilleland said.

The city manger said estimates to restore the Manchester Inn to viability have ranged between $8 million and $20 million, depending on the end use.

“As proposals come forward, we will evaluate them and discuss them with the mayor and city council,” Gilleland said.

The city purchased the Manchester Inn from the estate of the late Perry Thatcher in March 2011 for $175,000, after the city forgave more than $150,000 from an unpaid 1993 loan and other debts. The asking price is around the total investment the city has in the Manchester Inn, Gilleland said.

The price tag “sounds like a bargain,” said Brad Knapp, senior vice president of Henkle Schueler in Lebanon and former president of the Ohio Association of Realtors.

“It’s kind of a white elephant, meaning what do you do with it,” he said. “That price tag, it sounds very reasonable to me.”

Knapp admitted he hasn’t been in the Manchester for about five years, and hasn’t been in the hotel rooms, so he is unaware of the current condition. The question, though, is “what do you do with it? Obviously it didn’t work as a hotel,” he said.

The Manchester Inn was hoped to be an extension of the culinary school at Cincinnati State Technical & Community College. The city purchased the building after it had bought four other downtown buildings for roughly $300,000 from the Perry Thatcher estate.

Boston-based Higher Education Partners, the developer of Cincinnati State Middletown, only acquired the former CG&E building on behalf of the college for $200,000, and the city threw in the former senior citizens building in the deal. The city had recently donated the former First National Bank building to the college.

Jacqueline Hunter, a Realtor with Coldwell Banker Oyer, is the listing agent for the historic hotel that abruptly closed on Jan. 3, 2011. Listing the 91-year-old building, which was once home to the Charity Ball and the Pigskin-Roundball Spectacular, is special for Hunter, a lifelong Middletonian.

“It means a great deal to me with the rich history that it has. There are a lot of traditions with me and my family,” Hunter said. “I’m really going to work it hard to keep the use as close to what it was.”

Gilleland said she’d like to see the Manchester’s ballroom preserved, which she isn’t certain is a possibility.

“We know we are lacking gathering space for large crowds,” she said.

Places like the Pendleton Art Center, Gilleland said, can accommodate small to medium-sized crowds. The ballroom could accommodate a crowd of up to 750 people.

Downtown Middletown Inc. Executive Director Patrick Kay is hopeful for the future of the old hotel and conference center, and there is someone who will be willing to convert that hotel into something.

“I don’t think it’s the linchpin to make it all work, but I’ve got several people down here saying they miss the Manchester,” he said.

Kay said he would like to see it open as an event center, “and ideally I’d love to see it open as a hotel.”

“A lot of historic towns, when they brought their hotel back, it really spurred a lot of major growth in the downtown area,” Kay said.