The massive mixed-use Jamestown development in Rogersville is up for sale today at the Greene County Courthouse steps, a sheriff’s sale forced by the inability of investors to pay back taxes.
The entire, largely-vacant 200-acre property wouldn’t go for less than the $14 million debt owed, said Greene County Commissioner Jim Viebrock. Because the property also was backed in taxpayer subsidies under a Neighborhood Improvement District, Viebrock expects Greene County to be the only bidder. The sale starts at 1 p.m.
“This is a tax sale. They have failed to pay the tax assessment,” he said, noting investors will not be paid back. “What we expect to happen today … (is) the county will end up owning the whole thing at the end of today’s sale.
“If a person comes today at the sheriff’s sale and bids against the county, they can actually buy the property today, but the NID assessments would still be on the property.”
What that would essentially mean, Viebrock said, is if a bidder purchased the whole property today at $14 million, they’d owe another $14 million to cover the taxpayer-backed bonds used for the infrastructure of the property. If Greene County buys the whole thing, he said, the NID assessment would essentially be wiped clear, leaving Greene County to sell the property as traditional real estate after the fact.
He recommended parties interested in owning the land after the county purchases it at the auction today should come prepared to grab bid packages to file next week. The county would likely start marketing the property starting Nov. 15, Viebrock said.
Investors who failed to pay back taxes on the property include Alpine, Utah-based lender Private Capital Group Inc., which paid $1.3 million for the property at a foreclosure sale last year, and Stephen Cope, the original developer of Jamestown LLC.
Last May, Cope’s company filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy on the property, prior to the foreclosure sale, according to
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