A key piece of land in the heart of the South Loop’s main business district is headed for a live auction next week in hopes of increasing demand for the property.

The 5-acre parcel, which sits north of Roosevelt Road between the Chicago River and the Roosevelt Collection, would be at the hub of one of the South Loop’s biggest planned developments.

Bidding will start at $8.4 million when the property goes up on the block next Friday, June 3. The land is zoned for 1,500 residential units and a half-million square feet of retail space, according to Diliberto Real Estate Services, which is auctioning off the property for Jos. Cacciatore & Co. Real Estate.

The property was originally supposed to be a sealed-bid auction, but Frank Diliberto, the president of Diliberto Real Estate, said they decided to open it up to live bidding so they can stoke demand and possibly pump up the price.

“We believe that the live auction stimulates interest,” Diliberto said. “A live auction can sometimes trigger additional response.”

Of course, mega-sized properties in the South Loop aren’t exactly going like hot cakes these days. When Crain’s reported in March that the Roosevelt Collection was sold, it only went for half of what the original developer paid just to build it.

Crain’s reported that while most of the apartments have been leased, less than a quarter of the retail space in the complex at that point had been leased — all of it to the Kerasotes ShowPlace ICON theater.