Council bosses have stalled plans to buy the former RBS building in Kilmarnock for £400,000.
East Ayrshire Council planned to purchase the property to kick off a refurbishment by group Celebrate Kilmarnock.
But a survey has revealed the building is worth well under the asking price of £400,000.
It also showed it is in a worse state of repair than thought.
The bid is now on hold until the results of a more detailed survey from firm AECOM come through.
The money to buy the building at the Cross in the town was due to come from the Scottish Government town centre regeneration fund.
There is a deadline for using that cash so now the £400,000 from Holyrood will go towards other town centre schemes instead.
An extra £20,000 will be spent on the refurbishment of Morton Hall in Newmilns, for example, among other regeneration projects.
The council plans to take the money for the old RBS building from its capital budget later.
Councillors signed off the reallocation of the cash at an East Ayrshire cabinet meeting last month.
A council report presented to them said: “This will allow AECOM to complete their assessment of the condition of the building, Celebrate Kilmarnock to complete their business case and importantly allow Celebrate Kilmarnock and the council to give consideration to the next steps.”
The council received a total of £1.7 million from the town centre regeneration fund.
