The auction of the former Provident and YMCA lakefront property in Harrison failed to draw enough bids Thursday night for an immediate sale of 44.5 acres on Chickamauga Lake.
But auctioneer Henry Glascock said bidders who may have missed the auction, especially since the road to the Spring Hill Suites hotel was closed Thursday, may still submit offers to Glascock today.
Collectively, the offers for the seven parcels that comprise the overall lakefront recreation site totaled just over $3 million. An investment group headed by Cleveland, Tenn., businesswoman Brenda Lawson bought the parcel in December 2005 for nearly $4.8 million and she has nearly $5 million invested in the property.
The auction of the former YMCA lakefront property in Harrison failed to draw enough bids for an immediate sale of 44.5 acres on Chickamauga Lake.
"The overall prices were below what we had anticipated, so we're working with the seller now to see if the sellers may want to consider some or all of these offers," Glascock said today. "We had good bids on all seven of the parcels offered at the auction, but there were below expectations. So we have to scramble and put this back together to see if we can make something work."
The Tennessee Valley Authority deeded the property to the former Provident Life and Accident Insurance Co. in 1945 after the Chickamauga Dam was built and the lake was created, as one of many corporate recreation areas designed to spur use of the new TVA lakes.
Provident built a clubhouse, swimming pool, tennis courts, basketball court, boat docks and ramps, a care- taker's residence and other recreational use structures before giving the property to the YMCA, which used the site as a campground and facility for swim lessons until the property was sold 12 years ago.
But TVA deed restrictions require that the property be used as a private club for recreational purposes.
"You could build cabins and lodges and, it is our interpretation, that you could have a home out there if you use it for recreational purposes if you created a club," Glascock said.
County zoning rules also don't allow more than two residential structures on each of the lots.
Lawson never developed the lakefront site and, after trying unsuccessfully for the past two years to sell the property as a whole, she decided to try the auction and divide the property into seven parcels.
The site is on Glover Road, which turns off from Hickory Valley Road via Highway 58, on a peninsula near the Eagle Bluff Golf Course.
The property has a single ranch-style structure built in 1959 and a swimming pool and clubhouse, which have not been used in years.