The Capital Improvement Board of Marion County is expected Monday afternoon to approve a bid to pave a gravel parking lot on the former site of Market Square Arena.

The winning bid, chosen from a total of seven submitted, is between $800,000 and $900,000, CIB President Ann Lathrop said. She declined to reveal the winning bidder before the contract is approved.

“From the CIB’s perspective, we need to pave the lots because our zoning variance has ended,” she said, “so we can continue to earn money there as long as possible.”

CIB owns the parking lots once targeted for redevelopment. Despite numerous proposals from private developers and the efforts of two mayoral administrations, the roughly five-acre area where the arena stood until 2001 has remained a parking lot.

The city requires parking lots to be paved, but for years officials made exceptions for the arena lots owned by CIB, hoping to avoid the expense by attracting a mixed-use project.

CIB won a final extension in November, allowing the lots to remain unpaved through June. Paving could start as early as next month.

Funds have been budgeted to pay for the paving.