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HokieDan95 HokieDan95 OP
Dec 20, 2024 at 08:44 AM ET
Virginia Intermont College (1884) in Bristol went up in flames last night
Shutdown in 2014 ** Edited by HokieDan95 at 12/20/2024, 8:44:58 AM

18 Replies

H
Hokie1744
Knoxville College went up in flames back in November. Hopefully unrelated.
TomTurkey TomTurkey
That was then. This is then, aIso.
TomTurkey TomTurkey
This is nowish...
bigbadbird bigbadbird
and premium check was just cashed
Spud Spud
There is quite a homeless problem in downtown Bristol these days. Many...
of those people have broken into the school to seek shelter. When the library burned a couple months back, it was due to a small fire one of the homeless had set to keep warm. Bristol Virginia council has made some really stupid decisions in the last couple of decades, but they have been on the right side of the issues surrounding this campus. The new owners had indicated they have plans for the campus, but IMO it's just been a tax write off for some wealthy conglomerate. Next we'll see if they file an insurance claim, and how far that gets.
Victor Tango Victor Tango
Make you wonder how many people camped in there didn't make it out
JoesterVT JoesterVT
That was a neat property...and this is definitely pretty sketchy
As I understand it, there was a legal battle going on between the new owners and the city....to the point where the owners were starting to rack up fines they didn't think they should have to pay. And I'm guessing they wanted out but could find no buyer... And now it conveniently burns down? I'm sure there was insurance...hmm...
Stork Stork
If there was insurance, the owners are about to find out there are coverage
issues when vacant, and if an intentional fire, will be investigated not only by the city, but insurance investigators thoroughly.
Victor Tango Victor Tango
The owners are an off-shore company that was not paying property taxes
and doing nothing with the site other than let it fall into disrepair. They would pay a small % of the taxes owed at the last minute to avoid it being confiscated. I drove by it yesterday and kind of shook my head at how bad it looked, thinking the city just needed to bulldoze it all. Most buildings had broken windows, broken doors, and had become a homeless encampment. I would guess that a fire for heat started it all.
bigbadbird bigbadbird
Disco Inferno
MP4VT2004 MP4VT2004
Next we will find out a developer wants to put apartments there...
M
MVIII
This is Bristol, not NOVA!
TomTurkey TomTurkey
Yikes, that and Sullins College were the elite women's colleges in Bristol.
VI had a nice horse riding stable just north of the city. [edit: Sullins] was bought by United Coal Company for its headquarters. A HS classmate worked in their financial department. ** Edited by TomTurkey at 12/20/2024, 9:11:53 AM
vthokieq vthokieq
United bought Sullins, not VI.
VI property was bought by a Chinese company that never did anything with it and seemingly was never responsive. ** Edited by vthokieq at 12/20/2024, 9:08:07 AM
TomTurkey TomTurkey
That's right. I had to revisualize the street arrangements.
VTHokie2000 VTHokie2000
I didn't realize that school closed in 2014. The first time I had heard of
the school was as a child in the '80s because the best player on the HS boys' basketball team, where my late father was principal at the time, was planning to attend there in the fall. It is a shame the owner didn't properly maintain it and find another use for it because it is a pretty structure.
TomTurkey TomTurkey
Deleted due to poor memory.
** Edited by TomTurkey at 12/20/2024, 9:10:37 AM
VTHokie2000 VTHokie2000
I wonder if part of the motivation behind that decision was the owner hoped
Mother Nature (or arson) would act so they could save money on the demo cost.