The Journal: News of the Churches of God

Auctioneer splits Ambassador into 17 parcels for April 4 sale

By Mac Overton

BIG SANDY, Texas--The Worldwide Church of God, based in Pasadena, Calif., announced that two companies will handle the auction of the Ambassador University property near Big Sandy in April.

Fox & Associates Partners, Inc., of Virginia Beach, Va., in conjunction with the Grubb & Ellis real-estate brokerage of Dallas, Texas, will auction the 2,300-acre college property.

Consisting of auditoriums and other buildings, two lakes, a golf course, 22 lake-front residences, a radio station, an airstrip and hangar, mechanical and woodworking shops, an auto-repair garage and farm and timberland, the campus will be up for auction April 4 starting at noon on the campus.

A spokesman for Fox & Associates told The Journal her company will attempt to auction the property off as a whole. If that fails, the property will sell in 17 parcels.

She said that a compact disk about the property will be sent free to anyone who requests it. The CD was to be ready in early March. For those who want the information on paper, the price is $50.

The WCG has retained Remarketing Associates, Inc., to sell personal property (equipment and furnishings) at the site.

Equipment and furnishings

According to a WCG release, Remarketing Associates will auction office furniture, pianos and other musical instruments, library books, buses and other vehicles, cafeteria and kitchen equipment, farm equipment, classroom equipment, dormitory furnishings, sports equipment, science and laboratory equipment and other campus assets. The personal-property sale is expected to take four to six days.

Listing of parcels

Following is a list of the 17 parcels as enumerated in a Fox & Associates brochure about the sale. The parcels are numbered here as they are in the brochure:

1. The core campus, two miles east of Big Sandy on U.S. Highway 80, which includes academic and residential buildings, an airstrip and hangar, 40-acre Lake Loma, faculty and executive residences (called Faculty Row when the school was operational) and wooded areas north of Lake Loma. It also includes a radio beacon transmitter on .89 acre near Meason Street in the city of Big Sandy.

2. Timberland: 300 acres northwest of main campus on Persimmon Road.

3. Timberland: 56 acres north of Lake Loma on Persimmon Road.

4. Timberland: 224 acres northeast of Lake Loma (named for WCG founder Herbert Armstrong's first wife) on Weeping Willow Road.

5. A 63-acre golf course southeast of Lake Loma accessible from White Oak Road (Old Highway 80).

6. Timberland, farmland and a golf-course extension totaling 186 acres, east of main golf course, north of White Oak Road.

7. Timberland and farmland fronting White Oak Road, east of the main campus and Piney Woods campground.

8. Timberland: 81 acres (the Piney Woods Feast of Tabernacles campground).

9. Farmland: 71 acres, south of Piney Woods campground.

10. Property the brochure calls a "ranchette": 21 acres east of the farm entrance on Highway 80.

11. Ranchette: 21 acres, just east of parcel No. 10.

12. Ranchette: 21 acres, just east of parcel No. 11.

13. Farmland: 98 acres fronting Highway 80 just east of parcel No. 12.

14. Farmland, timberland: 242 acres that includes Farm Lake, fronts Almond Road, which runs north and south between Highway 80 and White Oak Road on east side of property.

15. Farmland: 30 acres fronting Highway 80 just west of parcel No. 16.

16. Farmland: 77 acres fronting Highway and Almond Road on southeast corner of property.

17. A 6.5-acre tract on a hill north of the town of Big Sandy, the site of the radio-transmission tower formerly used by Ambassador University. The 360-foot tower includes 24 antenna spots. The transmitter building has two radio suites and one radio-communications suite. Site is on Tidwell Mountain, southeast of Gilmer, about 630 feet above sea level.

Contact information

To schedule an on-site inspection, call Fox & Associates at (877) 208-5999. Or visit www.webrealestate.com. Under "Property-number search" enter "2301" and select "Texas."

For other questions or requests or to schedule an on-site inspection, call (800) 868-0458 or visit www.foxauctions.com.

For more information about the sale of equipment and furnishings, contact Remarketing Associates at (888) 345-7653, or visit www.remarketingassociates.com.

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