The Dewberry: Landmark hotel sold for $6.25M at auction
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John Dewberry, an Atlanta-based real estate developer with local connections, is all smiles after submitting the winning bid.Dave McNair
Waynesboro-born John Dewberry, a starting quarterback for the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets in the mid-1980s, and now a well-known Atlanta-based real estate developer, submitted the winning bid of $6.25 million for the shell of the Landmark Hotel in Federal bankruptcy court today.
The tan and handsomely dressed Dewberry met with reporters after the auction, which included bids from development corporation J.B. McKibbon. TRT Holdings, Inc., which owns both the Omni Hotel and Gold's Gym chains, bowed out at $3.5 million. Dewberry purchased the property through his Deerfield Square Associates II LLC.
Dewberry, who has strong local connections (he's golf buddies with realtor Steve McLean, who kept him informed about developments with the Landmark property), says work on the hotel, which could be called The Dewberry, a tribute to his father, who passed away earlier this year, could begin a year from now.
Of course, Dewberry still has to close on the deal, and if he doesn't the property will go to J.B. McKibbon. But McLean says that Dewberry is a "straight-forward" guy.
"He will be an excellent owner," says McLean. "He loves Charlottesville, and he has a lot of pride in what he does. He will deliver on a quality project."
"We were concerned that Charlottesville might be too seasonal a place for a hotel," said Dewberry, "but the price was right."
After completing a similar luxury hotel in Charleston, which will break ground this fall, Dewberry says they will begin on the Charlottesville hotel.
"I know there's a big desire to clean up that black spot in Charlottesville," says Dewberry.
Stay tuned for more details.
6 comments
Nice that he wants to honor his father but the Dewberry??? No, no, no, you definitely don't want to give it that unfortunate moniker.....and he overpaid.
Looks like Ray Liotta.
I don't care what they name it, how much he paid for it - he can paint it PINK for all I care as long as it is completed!
Glad the hotel will finally be completed. The mall needs it.
Dear The Hook: I love you, but the curmudgeon in me thought it was peculiar that you remarked on Dewberry's fanciness: "The tan and handsomely dressed Dewberry..." Why insert such superfluous subjectivity into a news story. You presume the entire world agrees that he was handsomely dressed. You presume either sun or tanning bed tanned his skin, but why remark? Maybe he's that color all on his own (some people are, and you wouldn't dare mention it, I don't think). If Pamela Anderson had bought the building, would you have said something like, "The bleached blond and provocatively dressed Anderson..." You already know this primary rule of journalism, but I'll state the obvious for nonjournalists: "Show, don't tell." You're printing in living color...so let us draw these sorts of conclusions for ourselves.
Overpaid...and completing it will cost too much for it to pay it's own way. Maybe the tanned and dapper fellow has enough OPM involved that he won't suffer from the losses personally (guessing that's the case), but if he completes it then at least Charlottesville's downtown eyesore will get resolved. After a few years it can go back on the auction block and get marked to market.