The federal government's real estate arm is seeking buyers for 51 acres in South Weymouth, part of the 1,400-acre site of a former naval air base.

The General Services Administration last week began an online auction for the site, despite the local agency overseeing the larger redevelopment of the base's opposition to the sale process, Banker & Tradesman reports.

The Southfield Redevelopment Authority, which has selected private developers to build on other portions of the site, has tried to buy this 51-acre piece of land from the federal government for two years. The GSA said in a statement to Banker & Tradesman that it rejected SRA's offer because it believes it can obtain a higher offer through the auction.

The GSA set a starting bid for the auction at $500K. The property consists of a 50.3-acre parcel and a nearby 0.8-acre parcel.

The site previously housed 165 residential units for the Coast Guard, which demolished the units between 2003 and 2015, and it now consists of three garages, a small office and surface parking.

The property is located roughly a mile from the MBTA's South Weymouth commuter rail station and about 12 miles south of Boston.

Private developers have built over 1,200 housing units on other portions of the former South Weymouth Naval Air Station, which was decommissioned in 1997. The SRA has also envisioned a large commercial development on the site, and in January 2020 it selected a team of Brookfield Properties and New England Development to build on a 400-acre portion of the base, the Boston Globe reported at the time.