« on: January 29, 2025, 07:57:24 am »
So this is a strange and frustrating story involving a murky Chinese buyer of the former Virginia Intermont college campus in Bristol, VA/TN. The Baptist college closed in 2014 due to low enrollment, loss of accreditation, and financial problems, which was a crying shame because back in the day it was a very good local school. However, in the absence of any local or National buyers, the property was gobbled up by a shadowy Chinese company that promised to turn it into a new business school to serve the local area. But then that Chinese buyer simply disappeared, allowing the campus to fall into disrepair and paying just enough property tax each year to prevent the city from foreclosing and recovering the campus. As it quickly deteriorated, the homeless moved in and just before Christmas a massive fire destroyed all of it. Nobody knows how it started, but now Bristol can't contact the Chinese company to facilitate demolition and can't legally take control of it, leaving the site a huge eyesore for the community. So it's a cautionary story about what happens when you do business with the Chinese.
https://cardinalnews.org/2025/01/29/bristol-seeks-general-assembly-help-to-deal-with-burned-out-virginia-intermont-campus/The Bristol property — much of which was destroyed in a huge blaze on Dec. 20 — is owned by a company in China that never followed through with plans to establish a business school at the site and allowed the buildings to fall into disrepair.
The city has had difficulty communicating with the absentee owner, and its efforts to get the owner to improve and secure the property have been unsuccessful. The property has been broken into and vandalized repeatedly while becoming a draw for homeless people.
At the request of Bristol officials, SB 1476 and HB 2745 were introduced by Sen. Todd Pillion and Del. Israel O’Quinn, both Republicans from Washington County.
EXCERPT
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DBUtQ3CAuo
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