Bank snaps up empty Blue Gator site for $600,000

Ownership of the foreclosed-on building that once housed the now-defunct Blue Gator restaurant and blues bar is back in the hands of the bank that holds the mortgage.

At a sheriff's auction Wednesday, a representative of Hocking Valley Bank made the sole bid on the 63 N. Court St. property.

The county had appraised the site at being worth $550,000. Bank official Craig Sweeney jumped up high over the county's opening minimum bid price of $366,667, immediately bidding $600,000 for it. (The county starts the bidding at two-thirds the appraised value.)

No other bids being entered, and the bank took possession of the property, whose deed had been held by GTA Holdings LLC, a local company whose principals included former hostage Terry Anderson. Court Street Management, a company in which Anderson was a partner, ran the Blue Gator until it closed in mid-2008.

The property was among sites foreclosed on in the wake of a debt-collection action against Anderson and his business affiliates, originally filed by local developer Brent Hayes. (Hocking Valley later joined the suit.)

When Anderson filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection late last year, he stated in his filing that while GTA Holdings, of which he is sole owner, had the deed on the building, Hocking Valley's mortgage amount exceeded the building's value.

Asked Wednesday why Hocking Valley was willing to pay more than $230,000 above the county's initial asking price for the bar site, Sweeney said that $600,000 is what the bank figures the property is worth. He said Hocking Valley did not want to see the site sold for less than that amount, and would have been willing to drop out of the bidding had anyone at the auction bid above $600,000.

He indicated that the bank now plans to put the site on the market to try to sell it. The building has been the site of various Athens bars dating back at least to the '60s.

Another property formerly owned by Anderson also sold at Wednesday's auction: the Willow Run horse ranch in Troy Township.

Appraised by the county at $425,000, it was bought for the county's opening bid price of $283,334 by Hayes, the man who originally sued Anderson to collect on an unpaid $150,000 promissory note.

Asked whether he has any particular plans in mind for the roughly 135-acre property, Hayes replied, "No, not really."