In what might be the first bit of good news about The Savoy property in years, the bank behind the project has orders to level the site — steel and all.

City Administrator Peter Pelissier told commissioners during last week’s Redevelopment Agency meeting that the city received a call that day from the asset management group for Wells Fargo that it aims to buy all the liens on the property and level the site, only leaving the fencing.

City officials had no details other than an offer has been made for the property and apparently accepted by the bank. Pelissier added that Hillside-based developer Dornoch Holdings is open to signing the deed directly to the bank to eliminate the necessity of foreclosure and consummate the sale on behalf of the developer.

Redevelopment Commissioner Courtney Clarke asked whether the developer was Capodagli Property Company, which had expressed interest in the property during a Redevelopment Agency meeting earlier this year. Pelissier said he preferred not to “get into that,” although he did tell commissioners that the Pompton Plains developer has a “real creative idea to develop the site; not just 36 units.”

Dornoch, which had planned to build a four-story retail/residential project with 36 for-sale units at the corner of Main and Monroe streets, was declared in default of its redevelopment agreement earlier this year. Construction began in 2008, with the site cleared and steel put up that summer, only to languish ever since.

There are a number of Special Improvement Districts (SID) in New Jersey, including Rahway, and another could be on the way. An SID, which assesses a special tax within a commercial district, is under consideration in South Orange (which also, by the way, has built a performing arts center/cinema in recent years), according to this report. Rahway’s SID raises about $130,000 annually and last year shifted its revenue under the auspices of the Arts District.

There also were legislative challenges to SIDs that arose this spring in the state legislature, according to The Commercial District Advisor.