Ryan Jenkins and Matt Calvin of Battle Creek Construction, based in LaPlata, Maryland, were the top bidders for the McKann Center in downtown Fredericksburg.
Senior Sales Associate Carl Braun and Sales and Leasing Agent Cameron Coleman of Coldwell Banker Commercial Elite real estate represented the purchasers at the Friday, Feb. 12, 2016, auction. The winning bid was $1.4 million plus a 10 percent buyer’s fee, for a total cost of $1,540,000, Braun said.
The Fredericksburg Area Museum and Cultural Center (FAMCC) purchased the former Planters National Bank building at 1001 Princess Anne St. and the Carley building at 215 William St. in 2004 for $990,000, and physically joined them during a 2006 renovation. They were named the McKann center for one of the major donors to the project, Catherine W. McKann.
The museum ceased operations in April 2015, and said the center would be auctioned to help pay debt. “That debt burden [of the renovation], coupled with the increased expenses associated with operating two historic properties, has brought the museum to its current financial position,” FAMCC Board Chairman Tom Wack said.
Once the McKann Center sale is final — the bank holding the debt must approve the purchase — the museum plans to consolidate back into Old Town Hall at 909 Princess Anne St. — formerly its sole home — and hopes to reopen in the fall of 2016.
“It’s a great piece of real estate,” Braun said of the McKann Center. His clients have been looking to invest in downtown Fredericksburg for some time. “The buyers are in love with Historic Fredericksburg,” Braun said. “They want to be good stewards of the historic building, and contribute to making downtown Fredericksburg a more vibrant place.”
The buyers have yet to determine what they will do with the building. “We’re going to do market analysis research, determine what’s allowed by the city, and decide what the building lays out best to be, what the downtown market approves, and what rents could be,” Braun said.
The collaborating team of Jamie Scully and Wilson Greenlaw Jr. of Cushman & Wakefield | Thalhimer and John Nicholls of Nicholls Auction Marketing Group handled the sale. Greenlaw’s mother, Mayor Mary Katherine Greenlaw, is a member of the FAMCC board and a former (retired) commercial sales-leasing associate with Cushman & Wakefield | Thalhimer.
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