It was once the grounds for the old Central School. It is now an empty lot — eight of them, actually.

At 10 a.m. Saturday, Ironton City School officials will auction off the eight lots along South Fifth and South Sixth streets between Oak and Ellison streets. The auction will be at the old school site on the parcels that are being sold.

Superintendent Dean Nance said two of the lots are corner lots and the bidding for those two parcels will begin at $27,500; the bidding on the rest of the lots will start at $24,500.

“We’re looking forward to not maintaining an empty lot,” Nance said.

All the lots have utilities. Each lot is approximately 0.16 acre.

The Central School building housed the city’s Head Start program until three years ago. The building was later razed using state funds.

“It’s a nice neighborhood and a great place to build a house,” Nance said. “We’ve had people inquire so we know there’s interest.”