Heavenly Mountain tract up for auction
A 225-acre tract and three large buildings that were once part
of the Transcendental Meditation center at Heavenly Mountain are now up for auction.
The
property, owned by the Maharishi University of Enlightenment, will be sold online Oct. 25.
Once
used for women’s educational programs in Transcendental Meditation and Vedic sciences, the buildings
have sat vacant for several years.
The Maharishi University purchased the properties in May
2011 from Blue Mountain Holdings, a company associated with David and Earl Kaplan, the original
developers of Heavenly Mountain, according to land records.
Thomas McMahon, a broker for
Sperry Van Ness that is coordinating the auction, said the university did not explain why it was
selling the properties now but is working to create a different campus for its programs in New
York.
The buildings and the properties on which they sit combined have an appraised tax value
of $8,189,100, according to Watauga County tax records.
Bids on the property will start at
$3.9 million, and the university does have an undisclosed reserve amount that must be met, McMahon
said.
The “East Campus,” as it was once called, is separate from the 381-acre parcel called
Forest Summit that was purchased in October 2011 by the Art of Living Foundation. That site is now
the home of the International Center for Peace and Well-Being, which offers short-term and
residential meditation, yoga and stress management seminars.
More information about the
auction and the property is available online at
http://bit.ly/HeavenlyMtnauction.
