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‘No Detailed Plans Yet,’ Say New Owners
The former Natural Bridge High School – not used as a school since 1992 and more recently serving as corporate offices and for various other uses – was sold at auction last Wednesday afternoon.
The high bid of $585,000 was accepted Monday by the owner, the Virginia Tech Foundation. The winning bid was submitted by Seven Diamonds LLC of Vinton, who bid on the entire property – the old schoolhouse, an annex structure that had been used as a vocational facility, and a gymnasium. The property encompasses 16.6 acres, including the former football field.
Contacted Tuesday, Teju Patadia of Seven Diamonds LLC said, “We have no detailed plans [for the property] yet. We’re looking to work with the county and the community to see what the needs are. We want to be part of the community.”
He expressed a desire to have portions of the property made accessible to the public, possibly for youth sports. The VT Foundation has been leasing the gym for pickleball and basketball.
Torrence, Read and Forehand Auctions of Forest conducted last Wednesday’s auction in a room inside the former schoolhouse. The auction attracted five on-site bidders and a dozen online bidders. Prospective bidders had been given tours of the property during the 30 days leading up to the auction.
The property was divided into two separate tracts for an initial phase of the auction. Tract 1 included the main building (47,224 square feet of floor space over two floors), the annex building (5,328 square feet of floor space) and gym (21,901 square feet of floor space). These structures are on 6 acres of land. Tract 2 held the balance of 10.6 acres that includes the former football field and a small field house.
Bidding on Tract 1 started at $110,000 and went up to $250,000. Bidding on Tract 2 started at $100,000 and went up to $175,000. During the second phase of the auction, bids were accepted for the combined properties, starting at $425,000 and going up to Seven Diamonds LLC’s winning bid of $585,000.
The main NBHS building dates to 1939. The gym, the newest portion of the property, was completed in time to open for the 1979-80 school year. NBHS closed in 1992 when it merged with Rockbridge and Lexington high schools to form the thennew Rockbridge County High School.
Des Champs Laboratories, which had a factory in Buena Vista, acquired the NBHS property in 1997 for its company headquarters. The main building was refurbished for this use and occupied by Des Champs for about a decade. Owner Nicolas Des Champs donated the property to the county in 2008.
Scott Sayre acquired the property from the county in 2011. Under his tutelage, what became known as the Stonebridge Center held, among other things, the business offices for Sayre Enterprises, a catering company with a refurbished kitchen and an environmental remediation service. The gym was used as a skating rink for a time and a local church held services in the annex building.
The VT Foundation acquired the property from Sayre in December of 2019.
Just prior to the start of the auction last Wednesday, Mike Torrence of TRF auctions stated that the county’s assessed value of the property was $2,273,600.
