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No Auction for Carter's GroveTuesday, February 15, 2011 The planned auction of historic Carter’s Grove was canceled Tuesday after the owner filed for bankruptcy the day before the sale. A Colonial Williamsburg spokesman confirmed that their attorneys had been notified of the bankruptcy filing for Carter's Grove, LLC, the company Halsey Minor formed to purchase the historic property from CW in 2007. The filing effectively halted the auction plans.President Colin Campbell sent an email to employees at the end of January announcing the February 15 auction of the property, owned by CNet founder Minor, a dot-com millionaire. Campbell said Carter’s Grove LLC failed to make the last two payments to CW for a mortgage that had originally been for $10.3 million. WYDaily also discovered that Minor hadn’t paid taxes on the property for the second half of 2010 and the first half of 2011, a bill totaling $21,846.47. WYDaily contacted Minor’s public relations representative Aaron Curtiss by email and by phone, but did not receive a response. In various statements made to the Virginia Gazette, Minor has claimed that the property had been damaged by water and later repaired, which he said was not disclosed at the time of sale. He has also said that Colonial Williamsburg, the Virginia Department of Historic Resources and the Virginia Outdoors Foundation attached a restrictive clause to the easement on the property that only allows for seven consecutive days of commercial activity in any 90-day period, unless prior written approval is granted. Minor argued that this was intended to keep Carter’s Grove from competing with CW, because without being able to charge visitors, it would be too expensive to run the home as a historic attraction. CW spokesman Tom Shrout responded to the allegations. Referencing a letter from the director of the VDHR and the executive director of the VOF, he told WYDaily that the easement provides for public access and would allow an owner to convert the mansion to a house museum. It would also allow the owner to open the property for charitable or educational purposes and to offer interpretation of historic and archaeological sites. As for whether CW was aiming to keep the property from becoming competition, Shrout said, “It is not correct that we were seeking to keep Carter’s Grove from competing with Colonial Williamsburg. The sole motivation is the long-term preservation and maintenance of the property. “The conservation easement was reviewed in detail by Mr. Minor and his attorney prior to its being granted, which was prior to closing. The easements will continue, in perpetuity, to protect and preserve the historic mansion, maintain the integrity of the mansion’s view shed, and protect the archaeological sites on the property. Furthermore, the easements prohibit residential and commercial development of the 400-acre tract, again in perpetuity.” When asked about the alleged undisclosed damage to the home, Shrout said, “In 2007, prior to purchase, Mr. Minor was provided a substantial due diligence period to review the land and improvements. Our records reflect he engaged professionals to conduct inspections of the Mansion.” A press release CW sent out at the time of the property’s sale in 2007 stated that Minor "intends to use the site as a residence and as a center for a thoroughbred horse breeding program." Shrout said the visitors building was removed prior to Minor buying the property due to “the anticipated use of the property as a residence.”
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