Several downtown business owners are now also downtown property owners after a sheriff’s sale Friday morning.

More than 50 people crowded the third-floor courtroom of the Ellis County Courthouse as 12 downtown properties were on the auction block, part of a foreclosure proceeding by Sunflower Bank against DFC Holdings and Liberty Group Inc. The sale of the properties totaled just over $1 million.

Sunflower Bank had the right of opening bid on each property, with bids ranging from $5,000 for 1108 Main, the former Hays State Bank, to $207,000 for 719 Main, the historic George Philip Hardware.

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