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The future of a structure that once housed Ukrop's Super Market remains unclear.

A public auction to sell the 58,000-square-foot building, scheduled for Monday morning, was postponed.

Bryce Hunter, a substitute trustee for the sale, announced the change to a small group of people gathered in front of the former grocery store on Franklin Road, which is in foreclosure.

Hunter, a lawyer at Gentry Locke Rakes & Moore in Roanoke, would not comment about why the auction was postponed and when or if it will be rescheduled.

Local real estate brokers gave several possible reasons for the postponement.

Those include the chance that the owner of the development, IMD Investment Group, already has found or is negotiating with a buyer, said Millie Moore, a broker for Retail Real Estate in Roanoke, who attended the auction. She represented a potential buyer for the property, but she would not disclose the name of her Missouri-based client.

Also, Pulaski Bank of St. Louis, the lender to which IMD is indebted, may already have found a buyer for the building.

Typically, a postponement is "a sign that some circumstances have changed" said Roger Elkin, an executive vice president at Hall Associates, a Roanoke commercial real estate firm. Elkin is not involved in the sale.

James Howard, vice president at Pulaski Bank, was not available for comment Monday.

According to court documents, IMD owes $3.3 million to Pulaski Bank. Bland Painter of Troutville runs IMD.

Ivy Market on Franklin Road is an estimated $20 million project. The former Ukrop's structure, its adjacent parking lot and underground parking garage were assessed at $13 million in January, according to city real estate records.

A local hotel owner and developer, Granger Macfarlane, attended the auction Monday, but he intended only to listen, he said, after learning that the sale was postponed.

Finding a new retailer for the former Ukrop's building will be "a real job," particularly in tough economic times, Macfarlane said.

The scheduled auction followed the more than two-year run of Ukrop's in Roanoke. The Richmond-based grocer opened in Roanoke in June 2007, but in December 2008, Ukrop's executives revealed that the store could not sustain itself long term if business did not improve.

The Roanoke Ukrop's shut its doors for good Oct. 24, leaving behind an upscale storefront designed specifically for this family-owned grocery chain that is closed on Sundays and does not sell alcohol.

A First Market Bank branch inside the building is scheduled to close Dec. 18.

The foreclosure and subsequent sale of the Ukrop's structure does not involve an adjacent Walgreens drugstore, open since August.