A wooded retreat on the Georgia side of Lookout Mountain sold over the weekend to four buyers for a total of $1.6 million.
The absolute auction of the 235-acre parcel in Walker County, Ga., attracted scores of interested bidders and yielded winning bids from four buyer groups that will finally transfer the resort property to new owners. The parcel was assembled and developed in the 1980s by former Chattanooga Coca-Cola bottling magnate Jack Lupton, who died in 2010 at the age of 83.
The property was owned by four Probasco family members who put the property up for sale at an absolute auction on Saturday.
Henry Glascock, the Chattanooga real estate broker who conducted the auction, said the sale shows that vacation and resort properties are again gaining favor, although they remain valued far below their pre-recession levels. The property was listed for sale four years ago for $2.5 million but did not sell.
The property, which includes three lake homes and custom log house built around two lakes, sold for the equivalent of just over $6,800 an acre.
"I was pleased with the final price, which was right in line with what we were expecting," Glascock said today. "We're still coming out of one of the worst recessions for that type of property that I have ever experienced and it's reassuring to see people engaged in second homes and unique properties. I'm hoping that will be with us for the foreseeable future."
The Probascos bought the Lookout Mountain land at auction in the 1990s. The property was later owned by former Lookout Mountain tennis ace and Wimbledon finalist Roscoe Tanner, who had purchased it from Jack Lupton.
Tanner bought the property after moving back to Chattanooga with plans to turn it into a destination tennis resort. But he ran into financial and legal problems and the site was auctioned from the courthouse in LaFayette, Ga.