NORRISTOWN – The historic building at High and Hanover streets that houses offices and a popular restaurant was seized during a public sale by the bank that is owed $2.8 million in debt by the previous owners.
Stonebridge Bank on Wednesday took possession of the five-story building at 152 East High Street, which houses The Brick House restaurant and the Tri-County Area Chamber of Commerce as tenants, when no other bidders showed an interest in the property during a sheriff’s sale at the Montgomery County Courthouse.
A lawyer for Stonebridge Bank announced an “upset price” of $1,550,000, the amount the bank was willing to accept for the property, and bid costs of $2,172. When no one else bid on the property, sheriff’s officials announced it was “sold to the attorney on writ for costs.”
Lawyers from the Fox Rothschild firm in Exton, who represent Stonebridge Bank, immediately left the courtroom and refused to speak to The Mercury regarding the sale or the bank’s future plans for the building.
The property, considered by many as the most prominent building in the downtown area, is located on the southwest corner of High and Hanover streets and once housed the headquarters of First Fidelity Bank between the 1960s and the 1970s. The building was listed for the Nov. 24 sheriff’s sale with $2.8 million in debt.
The defendant in the sale was listed as Pottstown Development Group LP while the plaintiff for the sale was Stonebridge Bank, according to records in the county Sheriff’s Department, which lists such sales through its real estate division.
The property could have avoided going to sale if a settlement had been reached between the parties before Nov. 24. If the lien against the property could be satisfied before Nov. 24 then the building likely would have avoided going to sheriff’s sale.
Representatives of Pottstown Development Group LP, which lists an address in Douglassville, could not be reached for comment about the sale.
According to Montgomery County property records, the assessed value of the property is $1,647,750, effective January 2009.
Current debt on the property was listed at $2,807,471, according to information on file with the Sheriff’s Department.
The owner of The Brick House and officials of the Tri-County Area Chamber of Commerce, which has been a tenant in the building for about five years and has a long term lease, could not be reached for comment about the matter on Wednesday.
The building also has as a tenant the Pottstown Area Health and Wellness Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to assuring increased access to health and wellness education and services, which occupies office space on the fifth floor.
According to county property records, the lot size is listed as 26,371 square feet while the gross building area is listed as 44,070 square feet. The building was built in 1888, according to county documents.
The property last sold in September 2004 for a sale price of $165,000, according to county property records. At that time, the grantor was listed as Pottstown Area Development Corp. and the grantee was listed as Pottstown Development Group LP.
Sales history records indicate that in October 2000, the property sold for $1 million and the grantee was Pottstown Area Development Corp.
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