An auction today for Midway Plaza, one of the oldest shopping centers in the Akron area and hit by vacancies, did not result in a sale.But the auction did identify potential buyers.Officials with the auction/real estate firm Chartwell Group said eight people had each purchased the $20 bid packet indicating interest.“It’s in play. There are people interested but apparently they weren’t looking to pay over our published reserve price of $1.5 million,” said Mike Berland of Chartwell Group.In addition to the $1.5 million, anyone buying the property at auction would have had to pay the “buyer’s premium,” a 6 percent charge.The next step will be working with those interested at a private sale. One who decided not to bid was Johnny Peart with Peart Corp. of Detroit, Mich., and Toronto, Ontario.Peart’s company owns a variety of real estate.After the auction, where no bids were received, Peart huddled with Chartwell Group employees.The 18.8 acre-property, built in 1955, is at Brittain Road and Tallmadge Avenue.The auction meeting was held at Sheraton Suites hotel in Cuyahoga Falls.The property — with a large parking lot and buildings totaling 150,000 square feet — went up for auction after the owners had it on the market for several months at a price of about $2.9 million.The plaza is about 40 percent occupied. Two big spaces that are vacant were previously occupied by retailers Big Lots and High Point Furniture.The property is being managed by a court-appointed receiver after the owners — Commercial Properties Inc. of suburban Cleveland — decided to sell. There were no taxes owed on the property.Occupants of the plaza buildings include a Goodwill store, Liberty Tax, Save-a-Lot groceries, Rent-a-Center and a Time Warner Cable customer service site.Most of the plaza is in Tallmadge. The front portion of the parking lot is in Akron.Katie Byard can be reached at 330-996-3781 or kbyard@thebeaconjournal.com.