BUTLER TOWNSHIP — The township commissioners call the one-time site for a new VA health care center a “sad sack” and an “eye sore,” and say they want the 21 acres on Evans City Road cleaned up and developed.

But with no word from the company that bought the land in 2013 for millions of dollars, Deshon Woods’ future is in limbo.

“I’d just like to see it restored back so it’s got a good viewing image for the public,” said township Commissioner Sam Zurzolo. “Right now it’s a sad sack over there. It looks bad.”

What does the future hold for Deshon Woods?

That is a question now because initial work on VA Butler Healthcare’s medical center to be built in Center Township is under way.

Zurzolo, who also is on the Butler Township Planning Commission, said upscale residential housing might be a good fit for the Deshon Woods property, though he acknowledged that the cost of such a project would be “astronomical.”

“I’d just like to see it beautified,” Zurzolo said.

The property was bought in 2013 by VA Butler Partners, an arm of the Ohio-based development company Westar, which had won a bid to build the VA medical center on the property.

When township officials sold their 15.9-acre portion of Deshon Woods to the company for $2.4 million, Commissioner Dave Zarnick said the parcel was a woodland setting with park benches and walking trails through its trees.

The company also bought about 5 acres of abutting land to Deshon Woods from Butler Memorial Park and combined the two parcels into a single parcel, which township zoning officer Jessie Hines said is slightly less than 21 acres and zoned for residential use.

Westar’s bid eventually was vacated after the government found that Westar had ties to two men who had served prison terms for crimes unrelated to Westar or the Butler project.

But by the time Westar’s bid ran into trouble, the company already had clear-cut Deshon Woods in advance of the VA construction project.

Township Commissioner Joe Hasychak said the process “completely trashed” the property.

“Anything would be better than what’s there now,” Hasychak said. “It’s terrible, an eyesore.”

Hasychak said he wouldn’t mind seeing the land developed into a mini mall or a restaurant. Zarnick said board members should consider buying the land back or re-evaluate its zoning.

Repurchasing the land is not a step township manager Ed Kirkwood would advocate. He said the township doesn’t have the money to buy the land back, and has no use for it even if it did.

“That property’s owned by a private developer, (and) we don’t know what’s going to happen in the future,” Kirkwood said.

Another possibility — that the land would eventually house the health care center it had originally been slated for — seemed to end for good in late August, when a federal judge denied a bid protest by Pittsburgh-based Oxford Development.

Oxford had taken out an option to buy the property in the event that its bid to build the facility and lease it to the VA was successful, but now has lost two separate legal challenges to the government’s decision to award the contract to Cambridge Healthcare Solutions, which has begun work at property along North Duffy Road in Center Township.

Judge Victor Wolski, who on Aug. 27 denied Oxford’s protest, gave the company 60 days to appeal his decision. Oxford hasn’t said whether it will take that step.

D. Matthew Jameson III, Oxford’s attorney in the protest, did not return messages seeking comment on any appeal. An Oxford spokesman did not respond to requests for information on the company’s option to buy the land.

From a development perspective, the site is well located and is in proximity to other recent building projects, noted Ken Raybuck, director of Butler County Community Development Corp.

Raybuck stressed that he has no particular knowledge of the specifics of the site, but said that it’s location and infrastructure make it a good candidate for development. However, he acknowledged that the purchase price of the land is “a very high end (price)” for the area.

That could complicate development at the site if the owner, VA Butler Partners, insists on recouping the purchase costs for Deshon Woods.

That company’s plans, if any, for the land remain unknown. A working phone number could not be located, and the Cleveland, Ohio, address listed on the company’s county tax records was registered to a different company, according to online listings.

A website for VA Butler Partners lists the names of executives, but does not provide contact information and appears to have been abandoned.

A phone number provided by township officials for Ross Farro, who is listed as the company’s CEO on its website and described as the property’s principal holder by Kirkwood, was disconnected.

As it stands, the land isn’t providing significant tax revenue to the township, said tax collector William Helsel. He said the total real estate taxes owed each year on the property is about $926.

The property’s tax records show no delinquent payments, said county officials.