Presidents Park, home of 20-foot-tall busts of the country’s past presidents, will be up for foreclosure auction again later this month.
The property is set for auction on September 28 at 11 a.m. According to county records, the two parcels of land that make up the site are assessed at about $2.1 million.
The park, which sits on about 10 acres, has been for sale since 2007 due to economic troubles. It closed to the public in September 2010. Founder Everette “Haley” Newman fought tooth and nail to get the park open after officials from Colonial Williamsburg and the National Park Service, along with the York County Board of Supervisors opposed the plan more than 10 years ago. The issue ended up in court and a judge ruled to allow the park to be built without a permit. The Daily Press at the time reported the project would cost about $7 million; the park’s investors borrowed $3.3 million, according to the recent auction notice.
The property was scheduled for auction for the first time in April this year when the borrowers defaulted on that $3.3 million loan. A representative of the trustee set to sell the property confirmed at the time that the April auction was canceled, though she could not disclose why.
Larry Creeger, who has been interested in buying the busts in the park, has been working for years to either buy the park or the sculptures.
Creeger’s original plan in 2011 was to buy the park, but that did not happen as the property was bundled by the bank to be sold with several other distressed properties (read a previous story on Creeger’s plan here). He said in the spring that his organization was still interested in buying just the busts to create a Presidential Park and Constitutional Center at another location.
Creeger did not respond on Monday to questions about his plans regarding the current auction.
York County District 1 Supervisor Walt Zaremba, who opposed the park years ago, said in April that “it’s sad that so much energy and investment dollars went into that, notwithstanding the Board’s position on it. Now we’re in the position that it’s closed and now on the chopping block. Lord knows what’s next [for the property].” Read more reactions to the first auction notice in a previous story here.
