Owner of Virginia Intermont property in Bristol still plans to open a business college at the site, attorney says

The owner of the former Virginia Intermont College property in Bristol plans to move forward with establishing a business college there and would legally challenge any attempt by the city to take control of the site through a new law it believes is unconstitutional, a lawyer for the company said Thursday.

“There would be a strong legal resistance to that,” said John Kieffer, an attorney in Bristol who has represented U.S. Magis International, which is based in China, since it bought the property at auction in 2016. “I think it’s pretty clear that that new statute is unconstitutional in the sense that it takes property without just compensation.”

City Manager Randy Eads, who sought the new law on behalf of the city, responded that the city will go to court if necessary and let it decide whether the new law is unconstitutional.

The property has been deteriorating for years and its oldest buildings were destroyed in a massive fire in December.

The law, which took effect July 1, allows the city to petition the circuit court to appoint a commissioner to transfer ownership to the city. The city would not have to sell the property at auction to the highest bidder. Instead, it could sell it to a developer who would have six months to start developing the site and two years to finish it.

On July 10, the city filed a lawsuit asking the circuit court to appoint a commissioner to turn the property over to the city, but the following day, Magis paid off its current and back taxes totaling $605,000 and Eads withdrew the suit.

Under the law, the property must be vacant for at least five years and deemed tax delinquent in addition to being declared a blighted property. The Virginia Intermont property was eligible before it paid off the taxes.

The 37-acre property has been vacant since 2014, when the 130-year-old college closed. Over the years, the property deteriorated and became a target for vandals and shelter for the homeless. Prior to the December fire, there had been two smaller fires.

On Wednesday, Magis paid off the $18,387 lien placed on the property by the city, which paid a company to demolish what was left of the oldest buildings. The city has also mowed the property and gated and locked it up.

Kieffer explained that relations between the U.S. and China have been strained and Magis has had difficulty getting the money needed to move forward with its plans transferred to this country.

“The Chinese government has been hostile toward the United States, and that includes a reluctance to permit transfer of monies to the United States. They’ve made some progress, in getting some funds over here to pay taxes and that sort of thing,” Kieffer said.

Eads, however, said that many China-based companies are operating around the world every day with no similar problems.

Currently, Kieffer said Magis is taking some small steps that will hopefully lead to bigger ones, including hiring a groundskeeper who will mow and do some maintenance work at the site. It is also in the process of retaining a security company to maintain control over the property, he added.

The plan is to open a four-year school that would require only a portion of the property, using buildings on the north side of Moore Street.

Those buildings might include the president’s house, the science building next door, the fine arts center and a small building beside that. The school might also use a house known as the alumni house; the former student center, which it renovated during its earlier effort to start a college; and the dormitory at the back of the property once known as Intermont Hall, according to Kieffer. The former Harrison Jones Auditorium at the bottom of the hill would also likely be used, possibly in connection to Bristol’s musical roots, he said.

It was never Magis’ plan to use the older buildings that were destroyed in the fire as part of the new college, he added.

The company is working on an application for accreditation with the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia, according to Kieffer. In 2019, Magis received a provisional certificate to operate Virginia Business College, but the effort seemed to stall during the pandemic.

Bob Spieldenner, SCHEV’s senior associate for communications and outreach, said the agency’s last contact with Magis was in 2023. In May 2023, SCHEV sent a letter to Magis saying it had completed its review of the company’s intent to operate a postsecondary school in Virginia, and it appeared to meet the minimum standards. The letter details additional steps that had to be taken.

Kieffer said he has no timeframe for opening a business college, but said it will take some time.

The city manager called the effort to open a business college a “pipe dream” and said he doesn’t think it will ever materialize because the company has had nine years to make it happen.

Kieffer said the city’s homeless problem and issues of crime and drugs have negatively impacted the property, though he acknowledged that those are broad problems faced by communities across the country.

He pointed to a January 2024 fire that destroyed a former school board building and elementary school on Oak Street. Like the fire at the VI buildings, fire officials believe it was started by a homeless person trying to stay warm.

Kieffer said city officials don’t currently seem to want to cooperate with Magis and its plans, but he added that Magis needs the city’s cooperation and encouragement.

“We’ve been very cooperative with U.S. Magis,” Eads said. “We have sent them numerous letters, numerous emails asking for them to bring the property into compliance and every single time we’ve been met with complete radio silence. We’ve done everything that we can, absent of taking them to court to get this property back into building code compliance and they have failed to do so even to this day.”

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