The cottage is owned by the National Trust, with farmer Jon Watson as tenant, ready to provide a friendly welcome.
"I've never seen more tenants ready to expand and pay top dollar".
It said it had a tenant ready to move in who would have created 80 jobs and invested £4m to restore the castle.
Mr Russell, the former Scottish education secretary, told BBC Scotland: "The community had an anchor tenant ready to move in, it had secured money to restore the castle, and it was taking a lot of money to do that, and it had jobs guaranteed in the area.
The single-story 1959 concrete block box of 669 square feet may have been a good deal -- Zillow estimates it would have been worth $85,000 in 2005 -- but it wasn't exactly tenant ready.
What could possibly be the benefit of our community enduring a big empty building when there is a responsible tenant ready to move in and provide us with a convenient, low-priced retailing option?
When a new tenant was ready to take the store's place in the 1950s, the men's store was relocated to the Wanamaker Building down the street.
Another factor, he said, is timing -- tenants want space ready when they expand or enter a market.
Landlord-Tenant Court stands ready to resolve disputes, but mediation may be a better recourse than any court.
"Many of our own tenants are now ready for home ownership," said Msgr. Donald Sakano, whose Highbridge Unity Center serves 1,000 families.
Getting the electricians, plumbers, carpenters and temperature control specialists to return later on when a tenant finally is ready to move in and needs space outfitted can be difficult and costly.
