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Auctioneer Marianne Sullivan, right, conducts a foreclosure auction at Cove Lanes in Great Barrington on Wednesday morning.

Cove Lanes in Great Barrington Sold in Foreclosure Auction

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
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GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass. — A Sheffield man Wednesday morning bought the Cove Lanes bowling alley in an on-site foreclosure auction held in the parking lot of the recreation center.
 
Craig Barnum was the lone bidder against an attorney for the business's mortgagee.
 
He won the brief auction with a purchase price of $981,000.
 
Afterward, Barnum declined to discuss specifics of his plans for the business with reporters but said he would be prepared to do so in a day or two.
 
The 11 a.m. auction drew a crowd of about three dozen people, including multiple qualified bidders.
 
Marianne Sullivan of Sandwich's Sullivan and Sullivan Auctioneers refused to specify how many qualified bidders signed up for the auction. But three other potential bidders, in addition to Barnum, turned in bid cards after the auction.
 
Barnum was the only bidder to raise his card during the auction, which began when Sullivan asked for and received a bid of $950,000 from Lauren Solar, an attorney for the Boston firm Hackett Feinberg, representing the seller, IOFUS-FCC Holdings I LLC, a Delaware-registered company.
 
After Solar set the floor, Barnum bid $975,000.
 
That led to Solar asking Sullivan for a "timeout," during which the seller's agent and auctioneer stepped off to the side to consult for about five minutes.
 
When they returned, Solar bid $980,000. Barnum then bid $981,000, not to be outbid.
 
Per the terms of the purchase and sales agreement, qualified bidders were required to come to the auction with a $75,000, non-refundable earnest money deposit. The successful bidder will be required to also pay up to 10 percent of the bid price within five days of Wednesday's auction.
 
Barnum will have until Jan. 14 to close on the property with the remainder of the purchase price.
 
The 24-lane bowling alley and entertainment center was advertised as sitting on an approximately 3.7-acre site with an approximately 26,000-square-foot building.
 
Per the conditions of the sales agreement, Barnum will responsible for outstanding tax liens owed to the town of Great Barrington.
 
According to the Berkshire Edge, owner Hankey O'Rourke Enterprises has been in Chapter 11 bankruptcy since June 2019 and no property taxes have been paid on the property since that time. The 63-year-old bowling alley was purchased by the current owner in 2008 and has an assessed value of $1.8 million, the Berkshire Edge reported. 

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Simon's Rock Awarded Freedom to Read Grant

GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass. — Bard College at Simon's Rock was awarded a Freedom to Read Grant by the Newburger Schwartz Family Foundation. 
 
The grant was awarded to support the Alumni Library and Bard Queer Leadership Project in building a more robust collection of queer scholarship, starting a Queer Book Club, and hosting Drag Story Time events in partnership with Drag Story Hour of the Berkshires.
 
According to a press release:
 
In response to current educational threats with book bans affecting schools and libraries across the country and further proposed legislation against LGBTQ+ people's access to basic rights and education, Simon's Rock is actively seeking to create inclusive and equitable spaces for queer individuals. 
 
The Bard Queer Leadership Project and Alumni Library will utilize the grant funding to expand the library's current collection of queer books in order to fully enable the longevity of the Queer Book Club and the Bard Queer Leadership Project. The Queer Book Club will be an intergenerational space, open to local middle school students through rainbow seniors and will partner with local community organizations, to discuss queer books and learn about LGBTQ+ issues and experiences. Bard Queer Leadership Project students will eventually help lead this initiative as part of their leadership project training. 
 
The Queer Book Club will host their first meeting on April 6 at 3:00 p.m. at the Alumni Library, with following meetings on April 27 and May 11. This semester, the selected books are "Obie is Man Enough" and "He/She/They," both by Schuyler Bailar, inspirational speaker and first openly transgender NCAA Division swimmer, who was a guest speaker in the inaugural Queer Leaders Vision Forum in fall 2023 at Simon's Rock. Schuyler Bailar will return to campus for a book signing and pool party at the Kilpatrick Athletic Center on April 19 at 7:00 p.m. Participants in the Queer Book Club will receive a free copy of either book of their choice. 
 
The first Drag Story Time will be on Saturday, March 30 at 2:00 p.m. at the Simon's Rock Alumni Library and is open to all LGBTQ+ affirming individuals. The event is in partnership with Drag Story Hour of the Berkshires with local drag queens JV and Poppy DaBubbly. The second Drag Story Time will be Saturday, April 27 with drag queen Poppy DaBubbly and drag king Sativo Green.
 
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