By Susan Larson
The National Slavery Museum property at 6500 Gordon Shelton Blvd. in Celebrate Virginia South, Fredericksburg, is scheduled for public auction on Friday, Jan. 20, 2015. It is uncertain whether it will take place.
All parties involved with the land to this point will be in U.S. District Court in Richmond on Tuesday. U.S. District Judge M. Hannah Lauck issued an order requiring a settlement conference with Fredericksburg Treasurer Brenda Wood and representatives of Diamond Nation, Pei Partnership Architects and the U.S. National Slavery Museum.
Former Virginia Gov. L. Douglas Wilder’s plan to build the museum on the site never materialized, due to lack of funding.
In October 2013 then City of Fredericksburg Treasurer Jim Haney received a copy of a signed contract between the Hagerstown Suns and Diamond Nation with the slavery museum organization and its largest creditor — Pei Partnership Architects — to buy the 38-acres in Celebrate Virginia South. The land was to be used for an amateur sports facility and a stadium that would have been home to minor league baseball’s Hagerstown Suns. The baseball partnership was never finalized, and the sale did not proceed.
Fredericksburg Treasurer Brenda Wood wants to sell the land to recover unpaid real estate taxes, interest and costs. The total due as of February 6, 2015, is $652,894, according to court documents. All other parties in the February 17 settlement conference hope to delay the auction.
The settlement conference will be held at 10 a.m. February 17 in U.S. Magistrate Judge David J. Novak’s chambers.
The Auction
“Despite final hour litigation attempts by the parties involved, this auction is still ON SCHEDULE,” At Auction Real Estate has posted on its website
The live, on-site auction will be held at 3 p.m. Friday, Feb. 20, in City Council Chambers in City Hall, 715 Princess Anne St., Fredericksburg. A minimum bid price of $1 million is required.
Complete details are available at Special Commissioner’s Sale of Fredericksburg City TAX DELINQUENT REAL ESTATE
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