Angus Council has accepted an offer for its failed Pictish heritage museum Pictavia.
The council’s communities committee agreed to the sale of the Brechin site in a behind-closed-doors meeting.
The name of the bidder has not been released by the council while the transaction is being concluded.
However, The Courier understands the offer is from Brechin Castle Centre, which is located beside the tourist attraction building.
The museum opened in 1999 at a cost of £1.2 million with the expectation it would be a jewel in the Angus tourism crown.
It was hoped the substantial investment would lead to around 25,000 visitors a year.
However, in its first year of operation just over half that number went through the doors to learn about the history of the Picts in Scotland.
Visitor numbered then steadily declined to just 3,500 a year and it lost around £27,000 in each of the last four years it operated.
The axe fell in September 2014 after councillors were informed there was little prospect of the museum seeing an increase in tourists to make it financially sustainable.
Its future had been under threat since the previous year when VisitScotland said it intended to close its information centre within the attraction.
This led to the council facing increased staffing costs.
At the time chief executive Richard Stiff said a six-figure investment was required to update the attraction, as there had been limited capital investment during its 15-year operation.
It was suggested keeping it open would be a drain on council resources.
Under the terms of the agreement between Angus Council and Brechin Castle Centre Limited the building had to be offered for lease or sale to Brechin Castle Centre Limited in the first instance.
An Angus Council spokesman said: “Members of the communities committee agreed to the sale of the former Pictavia Visitor Centre.
“It is not appropriate to elaborate further until such time that any transaction is concluded.”
A spokeswoman for Brechin Castle Centre would not confirm whether they had lodged an offer for the building.