The $186,000 Tax Sale Nightmare on South Missouri Street ...

Superfund Cleanup site

A routine Macon County tax sale leads to a former Toastmaster factory, toxic contamination, federal environmental orders, a $1.7 million judgment...

By R. Dominique | Macon Missouri Online

There are tax sales, and then there are tax sales that make you stop, put down your coffee and start reading the fine print. On Monday, August 24, Macon County Collector "Rhonda Anno", will conduct the county's annual tax certification sale at the south front door of the Macon County Courthouse. The county's official notice lists the properties, the owners and the accumulated taxes, penalties, interest and sale costs. Most of those entries are exactly what you would expect to find on a delinquent-tax list. But buried among them is one property that stands apart from virtually everything else on the page: 708 South Missouri Street.

The owner listed by the county is Comptons, LLC, and the amount attached to the property is staggering $186,047.78 in accumulated taxes, penalties, interest and sale costs, before the additional $60 advertising charge and $10.98 certified-letter expense. The county's tax-sale notice identifies the parcel as Tax ID 076419-0521-04003-000200. According to information provided by the Collector's Office, this isn't simply another property making its first appearance at a tax sale. It is a third-year offering, a distinction that makes a significant difference under Missouri's tax-sale laws.

But the tax bill is only the beginning of this story because 708 South Missouri Street isn't just another piece of commercial real estate sitting somewhere on the edge of town. It is the former home of the Toastmaster manufacturing operation, a property with a decades-long industrial history, documented TCE contamination, federal environmental involvement, remediation work, demolition, land-use restrictions and a federal legal battle involving the property's current owner. In other words, if somebody looks at Monday's tax sale and sees a property carrying $186,000 in delinquent taxes, the tax bill tells only a fraction of the story.

Before Compton's, There Was Toastmaster

For decades, the property was an industrial facility operated by Toastmaster, the company whose small appliances were once a familiar part of American kitchens. Missouri Department of Natural Resources records show the Toastmaster facility at 708 South Missouri Street manufactured small appliances including toasters and toaster ovens, but this was considerably more than an ordinary manufacturing warehouse. The documented operations included electroplating, injection molding, solvent-cleaning operations, three boilers and a sludge dryer.

Industrial chemistry eventually became part of the property's legacy. In 1991, trichloroethylene, or TCE, was discovered at the site. EPA records say the chemical had been released from an above-ground storage tank during Toastmaster's ownership and was subsequently found in groundwater. EPA's investigation eventually identified TCE in groundwater, soil gas and indoor air at the former facility and nearby properties.

The old factory had become something much more complicated than a factory. It had become an environmental site, and eventually it would become a federal environmental cleanup site.

Then Came Compton's

Compton's LLC acquired the property in 2011, and this is where the story takes an important turn. According to a federal court decision, Compton's did not unknowingly stumble into an old contaminated factory. The purchase agreement specifically included an “Assignment and Assumption of Environmental Liabilities,” meaning Compton's assumed environmental obligations associated with the property and agreed to deal with those obligations. Richard Compton personally guaranteed those responsibilities.

The contamination had occurred before Compton's ownership, but the responsibility for dealing with it did not simply disappear when the property changed hands. EPA records show that the environmental issues continued to require investigation, monitoring and remediation, and the property became the subject of agreements involving Compton's, Spectrum Brands and government environmental authorities.

According to the federal court record, Compton's eventually stopped the required investigation. The court record states that Richard Compton testified it was his decision to stop testing wells, after which Missouri DNR terminated the property from the state's voluntary cleanup program.

That decision would eventually become part of a much larger legal battle.

The Courtroom Enters the Story

The environmental obligations didn't simply disappear. They became the subject of federal litigation when Spectrum Brands sued Compton's LLC and Richard Compton over obligations associated with the property.

In 2018, a federal judge granted Spectrum summary judgment on four claims, finding that Compton's had assumed environmental obligations under the 2011 agreement and that the defendants had contractual responsibilities involving remediation and indemnification. The litigation ultimately resulted in a consent judgment of approximately $1.7 million against Compton's LLC and Richard Compton in favor of Spectrum for costs associated with the environmental problems at the Macon site.

That $1.7 million figure isn't the current tax bill, and it shouldn't be confused with the $186,047.78 now appearing on the county's tax-sale list. What it does demonstrate is the enormous scale of the legal and environmental liabilities that became associated with this piece of Macon property.

And the story wasn't over.

The Factory Eventually Disappeared

The environmental problems continued into the following decade, and eventually the old Toastmaster factory itself was removed. EPA records indicate that between 2020 and 2022, the Toastmaster facility was demolished and removed, although the concrete slab and foundation remained. EPA then installed an in-situ thermal remediation system designed to treat TCE remaining in the subsurface.

The system was activated in 2022, and according to EPA, the treatment reached its cleanup level in 2023. Later sampling confirmed the conclusion of the treatment, after which the system was dismantled and monitoring wells were scheduled for decommissioning.

So if someone drives past the property today expecting to see the old Toastmaster manufacturing plant, they won't. The factory is gone. But the property's environmental history did not disappear with the buildings.

The Land Comes With Strings Attached

This is where the story becomes particularly important for anyone who might look at Monday's tax sale and see an opportunity.

EPA's cleanup documents contemplate institutional controls and land-use restrictions associated with the property. Those restrictions were intended to control how the property could be used following remediation, including restrictions concerning construction of buildings or enclosed structures.

That is not exactly the kind of information that jumps off a county tax-sale notice.

A person looking only at the tax list sees Compton's LLC ( 708 South Missouri Street ) $186,047.78. The person who digs into the property's history finds a former industrial facility, a TCE contamination problem, federal environmental involvement, a multimillion-dollar legal dispute, demolition, subsurface remediation and restrictions that may affect future use.

There is also an address discrepancy worth noting. Some EPA records identify the facility as 704 South Missouri Street, while other federal environmental documents identify the site as 708 South Missouri Street. The Macon County tax notice identifies the tax-sale parcel as 708 South Missouri and provides the Tax ID and legal description. For purposes of determining exactly what is being sold, the legal description and Tax ID are far more important than the street-number difference.

And Now Comes the Tax Bill

Against that entire history sits the 2026 Macon County tax sale.

The county's official notice lists Compton's LLC at 708 South Missouri Street with $186,047.78 in accumulated taxes, penalties, interest and sale costs, plus the $60 advertising charge and $10.98 certified-letter expense.

According to information from the Collector's Office, the property is being offered for the third time.

That distinction matters because Missouri's third-offering tax-sale process is different from a first- or second-year offering. A third-offering property carries a 90-day redemption period, along with specific statutory notice and title requirements that a purchaser must satisfy before ultimately obtaining a collector's deed. The law therefore makes the classification of a parcel — first year, second year, third year or later — considerably more than a technical footnote.

It can change the entire economics of the transaction.

So I Started Asking Questions

When I called the Collector's Office to ask about the 2026 sale, I was told that three properties on this year's list are third-year offerings: Compton's, Marqon and Trevor Lake.

The distinction immediately caught my attention because of the enormous amount attached to the Compton's property. When I pointed out that knowing a property was in its third year makes a significant difference, particularly when we're talking about more than $186,000, the conversation ended with the person on the other end of the telephone going silent making no further comments.

A public tax sale involves public records, public statutory procedures and, in this case, potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars. Anyone considering participating in such a sale has a reasonable interest in knowing exactly what is being offered and under what rules.

Perform Due-Diligence Before Buying Tax Certificates

After researching its history, I wouldn't recommend that anyone show up at the courthouse Monday morning with $186,000 in their pocket simply because the property appears on a tax-sale list.

That isn't a criticism of the tax-sale process, nor is it a claim that the property is currently unsafe. EPA's records indicate that the thermal remediation reached its cleanup level in 2023. But reaching a cleanup level doesn't erase decades of industrial history, and it doesn't necessarily eliminate environmental covenants, institutional controls or other restrictions affecting the property's future use.

Nor does the tax-sale notice tell a prospective purchaser everything they would need to know about title, recorded claims, liens, environmental obligations or the ultimate condition and permitted use of the land. Those are title questions. Environmental questions. Legal questions.

The Number That Should Make Everybody Pause

There is another way to look at the $186,047.78 attached to this parcel.

That is what makes 708 South Missouri Street worth investigating. Not because somebody is necessarily going to get rich buying it, and not because the property is necessarily worthless, but because a seemingly ordinary line on a county tax-sale notice opens the door to a remarkable piece of Macon history.

It was once a factory that produced appliances for American kitchens. Then came an industrial chemical release, environmental investigations, contamination, federal involvement, remediation, litigation over millions of dollars, demolition of the factory and subsurface treatment. Now the property has arrived at a third-year county tax sale carrying more than $186,000 in delinquent taxes, penalties, interest and sale costs.

Monday Morning at the Courthouse

On August 24, somebody will stand at the steps of the Macon County Courthouse and decide whether a tax certificate on 708 South Missouri Street is worth the money and the risk.

Regards Maconites,

R. Dominique - Editor

maconmoonline.com

Citizen of Ward#2, Macon, Mo.