An LLC affiliated with Spotsylvania County-based W.J. Vakos & Co. will purchase the unfinished hotel at 5217 Mudd Tavern Road in Thornburg.

William J. Vakos Jr., the real estate development company's founder, submitted the winning bid of $1.5 million for the unfinished hotel at a foreclosure auction held Monday morning in front of Spotsylvania County Circuit Court.

Vakos will purchase the property within 15 days through an LLC called Laurel Investment Fund, which he manages. The LLC purchased the note on the property from project lender BB&T this spring for an undisclosed amount.

Annandale-based Octain Kim Development LLC was the previous owner of the 59,000-square-foot hotel, which had been slated to be a Best Western. Construction on the project off Interstate 95 has long been stalled.

Vakos estimated the hotel is 70 percent complete. He said he will study the property before deciding how to proceed. His development company owns the WyteStone Suites and Sleep Inn hotels in the Southpoint development of Spotsylvania, as well as the English Inn of Charlottesville and the WyteStone Suites of Potomac Mills.

Affiliates of W.J. Vakos & Co. already own additional real estate at the Thornburg exit off I-95, including 64 acres on the southwest side and 14 acres on the northeast side. The company is starting work on a development there called Thornburg Towne Centre.

Vakos was the only person to submit a bid Monday. A representative of MacDoc Realty principal Mark Doherty attended the auction with plans to pay up to $1 million for the property, but did not end up bidding.

Bill Freehling: 540/374-5405
Email: bfreehling@freelancestar.com