After asking for $2.65 million but finding no buyer, then lowering the price to $1.85 million with no luck, the church organization that owns Camp Fincastle in Botetourt County is now putting the 476-acre property up for auction.

The camp, which includes a 5-acre lake, has been on the market for six years. The new plan calls for it to be sold in three tracts.

"We've had a number of folks who were interested, but for a variety of reasons, financing or whatever, we could not consummate the deal," said Nancy Dawson, general presbyter of the Lynchburg-based Presbytery of the Peaks. The presbytery, which owns the camp, oversees 138 Presbyterian congregations in Virginia.

The auction, scheduled for 10 a.m. Oct. 17 at Camp Fincastle, could end the Presbyterian church's half-century of ownership of the once popular camp, just west of Fincastle and about 20 miles outside Roanoke. The presbytery, however, could reject the highest bids, putting it back at square one in its effort to find a buyer.

Dennis Cronk, president and CEO of Poe & Cronk Real Estate Group, said the key will be to get people outside the Roanoke area interested in the property. "In order to get the highest possible price, it has to be exposed to a broad market."

The presbytery put the camp on the market in 2003 after determining it would cost $2 million to renovate and meet state environmental standards. The camp features the spring-fed lake with docks, cabins, a 5,000-square-foot lodge and conference center and a picnic shelter with restrooms.

The camp -- which averaged 80 campers a week in 2002, the year before it was put up for sale -- has been unused for several years, Dawson said. The presbytery hopes to sell Camp Fincastle and, eventually, its Camp Hat Creek in Brookneal so it can build a camp in Bedford County, closer to the center of the presbytery.

The Oct. 17 auction is being run by Midlothian-based Counts Realty & Auction Group, which is touting the property as ideal for a family estate or a corporate retreat. The three tracts for sale consist of one 105-acre piece of land that includes the buildings and the lake, a 350-acre piece and a 21-acre piece.