Staff report
Green Mountain College in Poultney will be auctioned off on Aug. 18, according to Maltz Auctions of Central Islip, New York, who will preside over the sale. A press release from the company states that “a well-qualified, interested party” has placed a stalking-horse bid of $3 million for the property. So the auction will proceed “with $3.2 million being the next bid increment accepted,” according to Keith Lowey of Foxborough, Massachussetts-based Verdolino & Lowey, the college’s chief restructuring officer. “In 2016 the property was appraised at $20 million,” he said.
The auction will take place at the campus of the defunct college.
“This quintessential New England campus had been the home of Green Mountain College, a private four-year liberal arts school focused on environmental, social, and economic sustainability, which unfortunately closed at the end of 2019,” said Lowey, in the release, referring to the end of the academic year in May of 2019.
The auction company’s website describes the property as a “magnificent 155-acre college campus with 22 impressive buildings,” including seven dormitory buildings, three mixed-use buildings, three administrative buildings, two arts buildings/galleries, three single family homes with multiple uses, a three-story library, a gymnasium/field house, a biomass plant/maintenance shop, and a barn.
It’s listed as a “turn-key opportunity.”
“There are also favorable financing options available for qualified buyers,” the release notes.
It is uncertain whether offers higher than the $3 million bid reported have come in since July 8, the date of the release, which does note that the property is “subject to sale prior to auction as pre-auction offers will be considered.”
Maltz Auctions CEO Richard Maltz said, “We are pleased there was great interest in this property as it represents an exceptionally rare opportunity to acquire an environmentally sustainable, green campus that is superbly located and beautifully maintained in a single transaction. The party who placed the $3 million stalking horse bid understands that there is incredible reuse or redevelopment potential – and great value.”
