Troubled Fones Cliffs property listed for bankruptcy sale

Nearly 1,000 acres of land at Virginia’s famous Fones Cliffs on the Rappahannock River will be put up for auction at a bankruptcy sale.

A listing by New York-based Auction Advisors puts the minimum bid for the property as $4.25 million in an auction to be held Nov. 3.

The 977-acre undeveloped property, which is currently owned by Virginia True Corporation, has been embroiled in difficulties since 2017 when the company purchased the property for $12 million from long-time owners the Diatomite Corporation of America.

Virginia True planned to develop a luxury golf course and resort on the property. In November 2017, however, Richmond County ordered the company to stop work after it cleared more than 13 acres of forested land near the cliffs without a permit. A lack of required stormwater controls at the site led to extensive erosion and landslides.