MATT GENTRY The Roanoke Times

Robert Strenz of Dublin looks over the 12.7-acre tract of land with 2,700 feet of New River frontage in Pulaski County he purchased at auction from the Radford University Real Estate Foundation.

FAIRLAWN -- About 78 acres of Radford University Real Estate Foundation-owned property went up for auction Friday. Less than 22 acres of it sold.

Despite an hour and a half of competitive bidding from dozens of investors, the foundation declined bids on three large parcels of land, including the piece that holds the more than 106,000-square-foot former Saint Albans Hospital building.

The property that the foundation did agree to sell -- including more than 12 acres along the New River, two parcels fronting Lee Highway and 3.8 acres that hold the King Center -- sold for a total of $1.12 million.

The tax assessed value of all of the property up for auction Friday was $14.675 million. The former Saint Albans Hospital alone is assessed at more than $12 million.

During the auction, however, the building and the 15 acres it sits on fetched just one bid -- for $4 million.

"We're holding onto the rest of the property right now," foundation President Barbara Turk said after the auction concluded. "We'll put it on the open market."

Turk said the foundation had yet to decide when it would put the property on the market or how it would price it once it did.

Radford University acquired the property, which includes not only the hospital-turned-office building, but also the King Center and King House, in 2004 through a donation from Carilion Health System. Radford had planned to transform the old hospital into a center for innovation and economic development.

Earlier this year, the foundation announced plans to sell the land through Roanoke-based auction company Woltz & Associates.

Throughout the auction's 90 minutes of bidding, auctioneer Russell Seneff called to bidders with words of encouragement.

"It's beautiful land, lots of potential," he said, standing in front of a large map of the property and an updated spreadsheet of winning bids. "Give me some money!"

Bidders tried. By the time the auction closed about 2 p.m., winning bids totaled more than $5.3 million.

Yet, after the foundation declined three of the bids, just two bidders walked away successful.

Thom Rutledge, a project manager with SHAH Development in Christiansburg, beat several other bidders to buy three parcels totaling 8.7 acres for $777,000.

The land, which is zoned commercial, fronts U.S. 11, and Rutledge said SHAH has plans to build a commercial development there.

SHAH Development is owned by Larry Shelor and David Hagan of the Christiansburg-based Shelor Automotive Group.

Rutledge said the company has had its eye on the land for a while and has a "very preliminary conceptual layout" for its proposed project, which would include "in excess of 200,000 square feet" of retail and restaurant space.

The day's other lucky bidder was Robert Strenz, a real estate investor and developer who has several properties in Pulaski.

Strenz, a Pulaski County resident, paid $346,500 for 12.7 acres of land along the New River zoned as a conservation district. He said he isn't yet sure what he'll do with the land.

"I bid on several of the parcels, but this is the one I really wanted to get," Strenz said. "It's a heck of a nice piece of property -- you walk down there and it's like you're in a private park."

That's what Anne and David Woodyard of Dublin thought, too.

The couple said they came to the auction initially hoping to buy the riverfront property.

"We changed our mind real quick," David Woodyard said with a chuckle. The bids "excelled way above us."

Instead of trying to compete, the Woodyards decided to bid on just over 10 acres of empty land next to the Radford Shopping Center.

"We always look for a good buy when you can get a good buy," David Woodyard said.

The Woodyards' winning $75,000 bid was declined by the foundation.