Another 10-day upset bid process begins
On the last day of the upset bid process, Overmountain Trace Holdings LLC submitted a bid of $3,858,886.86 for White Oak Development, which was sold at auction on Feb. 1.
The original bid was placed by Tryon Equestrian Properties LLC for $3,675,130.34 during the auction held at the Polk County Courthouse. Following the Feb. 1 bid, an upset bid process began that ended Feb. 13 at 5 p.m.
Another upset bid process will now begin following Overmountain Trace Holdings’ bid yesterday. The new deadline for upset bids is Feb. 23, with a five percent greater bid required, or a bid of $4,051,831.20.
Attorney Lara Baker, representing Overmountain Trace Holdings, submitted the upset bid at the courthouse. A $192,944.34 deposit was made, or five percent of the bid. It is not known who owns Overmountain Trace Holdings LLC, but the Overmountain Victory Trail is known to run through part of the White Oak property.
White Oak Development is a planned 941.93-acre subdivision located in the Green Creek Township. Just under 940 acres of the land was purchased in October 2003 by White Oak Development Partners, LLC for $3.25 million.
The developers ran into financial issues, after which they could not meet deadlines to pay Polk County for a water line ran to the subdivision. White Oak still owes Polk County $141,260 for the water line and approximately $104,000 to Polk for 2010 and 2011 taxes.
A judge ordered White Oak to pay the more than $140,000 to Polk County after the county sued the development for not completing payments for the water line.
White Oak’s original plans included a golf course/clubhouse, vineyard, equestrian center, nature trails, a lake and tennis facilities, among other amenities.
The development has constructed nine holes of the planned golf course. There are five homes constructed at the development, one of which has obtained a certificate of occupancy.
White Oak also faces a lawsuit from a property owner who claims that White Oak agreed to buy back their property if the development did not complete the golf course and equestrian facilities as proposed. Donald and Priscilla Neault filed a lawsuit on Nov. 4, 2011 and are asking for $448,000, which was their purchase price.
White Oak completed half of the planned 18-hole golf course around October 2008, but since that time has not completed further work and the planned golf facilities of Club at White Oak have never been completed, states the Neaults’ lawsuit.
In December 2011, White Oak officials said they were working to obtain a development partner in order to get all the debts paid and to re-launch the development.