WILTON – The Nichols Expo has been listed for sale with a local real estate agent. The asking price: $3 million.

“By putting it up for sale, we hope to attract attention and bring interest to the area,” said Mark Berry of building owners the Nichols Group. That “interest that might lead to some type of partnership or we can pick and choose a buyer. We’re not looking to have someone mothball it,” Berry added.

The former Bass complex on Weld Road was listed for $3 million with King Real Estate in Farmington. Skyrocketing fuel prices have the owners looking to make some changes, he said.

The complex leases space to ICT Group call center, the London-based, customer-service, call center Barclays and Decal Gymnastics. It also provides space for Wilton Library book sales, Nichols Welding, and winter storage, and it is the site of sportsmen’s and other shows, he said.

The facility has approximately 290,000 square feet. Shows use about 40,000 feet. Tenants use another 30,000 feet, leaving plenty of space for other tenants, he said.

The group has sought tenants over the past four years with some success, but with costs to maintain the building, owners are attempting a different approach, he said.

“When we got into it, we thought we could do something to bring blue collar jobs to the area, and we have succeeded to some extent,” Berry said of work done by the owners – Berry, Gil Reed, Rich Johnson and Bob Nichols.

“We wanted to see lots of people working at the complex that formerly housed 1,200 Bass employees when at its peak,” he said. The group turned down an opportunity to provide a lot of storage two years ago because there would have only been three employees hired for it, he added.

The group is marketing the space nationwide, looking for companies that will expand the local job base.

“It’s a good inexpensive space with a wealth of employee potential and it’s a great little well-run town that is open to assisting and helping businesses,” Berry said.