by Timothy McQuiston, Vermont Business Magazine Poultney's Green Mountain College, which closed in 2019, will have a new owner - none other than the founder of Shoreham-based WhistlePig Whiskey, Raj Peter Bhakta. Bhakta’s winning bid today was $4.55 million. With a 10 percent buyer’s premium, the deal is valued at just over $5 million.
Bhakta was one of three on-site bidders, with a couple more remote. The bidding began at $3 million, the so-called stalking horse bid that had been received and accepted well in advance of the auction, which was conducted by Maltz Auctions of Central Islip, NY. Bhakta eventually won the rights to the 121-acre facility, which includes the campus itself and several surrounding properties.
When asked after the auction what he planned to do with the property, he told a Poultney resident, “I promise a revival of the college of Poultney, of Vermont, and of the United States.”
Raj Peter Bhakta. VBM file photo. Courtesy WhistlePig
Wearing a green T-shirt with a stylized Vermont vanity license plate that read 802NERD, he added that he will be looking to operate the campus on "a nonprofit, public-benefit basis," but declined to give further specifics.
Should Bhakta be able to receive approval from the Vermont Board of Education to issue degrees, he could then also take possession of the college's intellectual property, which would include at least the name.
The auction began at 1 pm Tuesday in the Withey Hall dining room and was over within 45 minutes. There were 34 citizens in attendance, watching on a video feed in an adjoining room.
The stalking horse bid had been approved by the US Department of Agriculture, the primary lien holder. The college owes the USDA between $15 and $20 million.
Green Mountain College Holdings LLC is the seller. The buyer’s premium covers the auctioneer’s fees.
The closing date is not known at this point, but Tom Bailey of Verdolino & Lowey PC, of Foxborough, MA, said closing is supposed to be held within 45 days. Bhakta will have another 30 days beyond that if he pays a non-refundable deposit.
Verdolino & Lowey, CPA firm, acted as the restructuring officer for the college. They had sold one of the college's off-campus holdings earlier to cover costs. Bhakta will however get all the legacy GMC property.
Bailey said the auctioneers expected the sale to take only 10-12 minutes. He said at one point the bidding stalled at around $3.5 million before it again ramped up.
He said there were three bidders in the room with one online and another on the phone. But, he added, he himself was not in the room itself.
Bhakta was bought out of WhistlePig, for an undisclosed sum in December 2018.
On January 23, 2019, Green Mountain College president Robert Allen said the college would close. In a statement announcing the closure, he said, “I regretfully announce that after a 185-year legacy, Green Mountain College will be closing. Although the Trustees of the College have not yet set a specific closing date, we anticipate cessation of operations after the Spring 2019 semester. The Board of Trustees has concluded it is in the best interests of our students, prospective students, faculty, and staff to notify them of this decision at this time, so they can make informed choices for their future. Our most important concern is supporting all members of the GMC family in this difficult time.”
GMC, he said, had tried but failed to find a partner to continue operating. It eventually closed at commencement that year.
GMC was one of four colleges in Vermont that closed within a year, along with Southern Vermont College in Bennington, St Joseph’s College in Rutland, and Marlboro College.
All of the colleges are in southern Vermont and all suffered from loss of enrollment.
Marlboro College's campus of over 500 acres was sold last month for $225,000 and $1.5 million in debt. The sale price elicited an uproar among alumni and Marlboro residents.
Marlboro’s endowment, which exceeded $20 million, went to Boston's Emerson College, with which it merged.
In response to the initial publication of this article, Dick Saudek, former chair of the Marlboro Board of Trustees, said in an email: "At Marlboro, we deliberately set out to sell the campus to someone who would use it for educational and cultural purposes. We sold it to "Democracy Builders," which has formed several schools that provide educational opportunities for students - primarily people of color - who would not normally have the opportunity to attend college. We could have sold the campus for several million dollars, but we saw little likelihood that others who were interested would use it for worthwhile educational purposes. I understand that the buyer is already putting together fall classes."
Green Mountain College campus aerial. Courtesy GMC