The Jacksonville Masonic Center has sold to a group from Chicago led by a Jacksonville native. Mike Doyle and two other partners placed the winning bid on the building on Thursday for $53,300. The online auction took place between April 1st and April 30th after Harmony Masonic Lodge #3 decided to sell the building in March. The local lodge had fallen on decreased membership and along with that came financial hardship.
Grand Secretary Frank Cline says that the group has made no indication on what they will do with the building yet. “This group buys buildings and turns them into apartments, Air BnBs, or rental kinds of things so, they don’t know for sure what they are going to do with this property yet. They are having someone come and take pictures of the property today. That’s all I know for what the future holds at this point.”
Cline did not indicate whether the local lodge and Zingabad Grotto had worked out a way to rent space from the new owners. The group has been meeting at the location since October 1935.
Doyle’s family owns Doyle’s Plumbing and Heating. Doyle’s “Rent Like A Champion” weekend rental company won a $200,000 prize on ABC’s “Shark Tank” in 2015.