Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, April 30, 1994 TAG: 9405020164
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By KEVIN KITTREDGE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: FLOYD LENGTH: Medium
There were no bidders. The property instead was returned to the possession of the First National Bank of Christiansburg, which sold it to Robert Bryant in 1992.
Bank officials said they would have to discuss what to do with the property now, although it probably will be sold again.
''We were hoping not to get it back,'' said the bank's executive vice president, Danny Hardy. ''Sometimes, things don't work out like you intended.''
The 1:30 p.m. auction left the barn's future uncertain but closed the door on Bryant's project, which some had viewed from the beginning as overly ambitious. Bryant, hoping to tap into tourist traffic on the nearby Blue Ridge Parkway, had sought to turn the partially renovated barn into a restaurant large enough to seat every person in the town of Floyd.
Also planned for the site were a mini-shopping center and a dairy bar. A store and dairy bar eventually were opened, but the restaurant never was.
The bank foreclosed on the property after losing contact with Bryant, a former meat buyer for Richfood Inc. Bryant is said to have defaulted on his $180,000 FNBC loan.
No one - from bank officials to Bryant's wife, Norma Bryant of Ashland, who has said he left her two years ago - seems to know where he is.
Diana Wimmer, a realty agent who attempted to sell the property for Bryant before Friday's auction, said Bryant had called from time to time to check on the status of the property, but she did not know where he was.
Friday's auction, held between raindrops on the steps of the Floyd County Courthouse, drew a small group of curious realty agents and other onlookers - five or six in all - but no bidders.
Bank officials said they were optimistic that the barn eventually would be sold.
''We're disappointed it didn't work for Mr. Bryant,'' said Frank Sowers, a bank officer who attended the auction. ''We still feel like it has some potential as a restaurant.''
Sowers said the bank had been contacted before the auction by people interested in the property, although none showed up to bid.
by CNB