An initiative by Rocky Mount to sell donated properties in need of repair to people looking to rehabilitate real estate is proving successful, officials said.

At tonight’s 7 p.m. City Council meeting, officials will consider a resolution of intent to sell property on the 1300 block of Clark Street for $1,100 for renovation. The resolution states that city staff will advertise for upset bids on the property, but Assistant City Manager Peter Varney said they have had three people make offers on the property already.

In September, the council approved five similar sales to interested renovators, with all the properties selling for $100. The deal for the property on Clark Street is the same in that investors have to complete the work and obtain a certificate of occupancy within 12 months to finalize the sale.

“The interesting thing to me is that we’ve been tending to think that we need to look outside the inner city to find people to reinvest in the area, but there are people inside the inner city area who are interested, willing and have the resources to invest,” Varney said. “Instead of looking outside, I think maybe we really need to look inside and grow our investment from within.”

He said he’d be willing to negotiate other offers on repairable properties if donors are willing to give property to the city.

“We don’t have people lined up to give property to the city, but if they did and some portion was repairable, I think it’d be possible to get someone who’d reinvest in it and get the property back in service,” Varney said.

Also on the council agenda is a $700,000 budget amendment combining Powell Bill funding with money allocated for street resurfacing in the budget. The total cost of the 5.8 miles of resurfacing is about $1.4 million, with the contract to be considered at the next meeting.