Two historic Waddell Street homes could soon be demolished.

The 19th-century houses have remained vacant for more than years, after being sold to the University along with the Wray-Nicholson House for $2.3 million. The University purchased them from Athens-Clarke Country, which in 1990 had spent around $4 million to obtain and renovate the homes.

The University issued a request for proposals through a public bidding process in June, hoping to find someone to take the houses.

Tim Burgess, senior vice president for finance and administration at the University, said there have not been any offers from interested parties wanting to buy and relocate the homes. To renovate and move the homes themselves would cost the University about $350,000.

Burgess said at this point, they would be willing to give the houses away.

“We would probably figure out a way to give them away if they would just come move them off the property,” said Burgess.

The University has been unable to find a function for the houses, Burgess said.

“For all these years now there has never been a defined purpose for these other two houses. They’ve just sat there for years and years and have slowly deteriorated,” Burgess said. “They’re just in really bad shape and somewhat of a hassle.”

Kyle Campbell, president of the Student Historic Preservation Organization, said he has personally taken building material conservation classes at one of the houses and feels they are anything but useless.

“I would definitely disagree with the idea that the houses have no value because they are part of the middle class, working-man part of Athens’ history,” Campbell said.

If nobody comes forward with an offer to move the houses soon, they will be knocked down. And as of now, there is no specific plan for the future use of the lots, but they could potentially become additional parking or an expansion for the Alumni Association.

Burgess said the homes are in a state of disrepair and pose a potential safety hazard, as they are not currently roped off from the public.

“The fear is, anytime there’s a piece of property that’s unsafe there is a liability,” Burgess said. “The concern starts to be that there’s going to be an accident there or there’s going to be a fire or someone’s going to get hurt.”

Both The Athens Land Trust and Habitat for Humanity, which work to build and renovate homes for inexpensive housing options, said they could not afford to move the homes. The cost of renovation would render them unable to offer the homes for an affordable price.

The Athens-Clarke Heritage Foundation has gone on record as not supporting the demolition of the homes.

John Kissane, Hands on Athens administrator for the Athens-Clarke Heritage Foundation, said he was under the impression that the buildings are of reasonably sound structure.

“The University apparently can’t find a suitable use for them so they want to demolish them. I don’t know to what extent they’ve put in an effort to find good uses for them,” said Kissane.

Burgess said he still hopes someone will come forward and decide to take the homes.

“Our objective would be either to give them to someone or create a transaction with someone so they could take them and use them or eliminate the liability associated with them sitting there,” said Burgess.