Fredericksburg property for slavery museum at risk

FREDERICKSBURG -- Former Gov. L. Douglas Wilder's slavery museum project risks losing its property here at the end of this year if it doesn't pay delinquent taxes now totaling almost $81,000.

The U.S. National Slavery Museum's 38 acres would be eligible for a tax sale Dec. 31, which would allow the city to collect unpaid real estate tax bills dating to November 2008, according to the city treasurer's office.

Chief Deputy Treasurer Brenda Wood said in an e-mail that it's not certain the city would proceed with a sale.

Wilder, who has dodged questions about the struggling museum project for more than a year, has not responded to requests made since last week for an interview.

Wilder, the museum's chairman and executive director, was not in his office at Virginia Commonwealth University when a reporter left his card with his longtime assistant. She later said Wilder would be in touch Friday, and then yesterday, but he did not respond.

In 2008, the Fredericksburg City Council rejected Wilder's request to have the museum's property exempted from real estate taxes. The land overlooking the Rappahannock River is assessed at $7.6 million and is vacant except for its 0.3-acre Spirit of Freedom Garden.

A visit to the garden last week found it to be neglected, if not abandoned, with torn or weatherworn displays, untrimmed bushes, and rusty or dented benches.

Ken Smith, the artist who made the garden's centerpiece sculpture, Hallelujah, said he's troubled by the site's condition and is offering to sever ties with the museum.

In a letter to Wilder yesterday, Smith proposed to take back the 8-foot-tall carving from black soapstone and to keep a second sculpture that was commissioned for the museum.

Smith also sent an invoice for $6,000 for costs related to the second sculpture but added that he'll assume the museum is willing to break its original agreement if there is no response in 30 days.

"It's like chasing smoke with Wilder," Smith said in an interview.

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For a couple of months last spring and summer, volunteers with the Fredericksburg Regional Hospitality Council locked and unlocked the Spirit of Freedom Garden's gate daily and kept the site mowed and free of trash.

The workers stopped because they were unable to explain the project to visitors, and they weren't sure what would happen if someone were injured on the property, said Colleen Hairston, the council's president.

"I find it puzzling, because it's a fascinating project," she said. "There's just not a lot of information."

The garden, which opened to fanfare in 2007, includes displays that recount the Middle Passage voyage from Africa to America, as well as acts of bravery, runaways and abolitionists.

At the time, officials claimed $50 million in cash and pledges toward the $100 million-to-$200 million museum project.

Fredericksburg Mayor Thomas J. Tomzak said he still supports the idea of a slavery museum but added that the lack of communication from Wilder and inattention to the site is troubling.

"There has to be closure on this for the citizens of Fredericksburg," he said.

The Silver Cos. donated the property in 2002, amid predictions that the museum would open by 2004 and serve as a centerpiece of the Celebrate Virginia commercial and tourist development off Interstate 95.

Scott Little, director of development for Celebrate Virginia South, said last week that officials had heard nothing from Wilder or other museum representatives, and he dismissed any thought that the developers would step in to pay the museum's bills.

"We would not prevent that from happening," Little said of a tax sale.

In general, a tax sale involves a court proceeding that allows a property to be sold, with the proceeds going first to cover any outstanding taxes, plus penalties and other costs, and then to resolve any liens, such as a mortgage or claims by contractors, said Mark S. Shiembob, a real estate attorney with Troutman Sanders. Any remaining money would go to the prior owner, he said.

The property would retain any covenants or restrictions that were placed previously, Shiembob said.

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In the case of the slavery museum property, the restrictions are significant -- and something the developers of Celebrate Virginia sought to underscore last March as questions swirled about the project's future.

Celebrate Virginia South LLC recorded in Fredericksburg Circuit Court a "supplemental notice of covenants and restrictions" on the land.

The filing says it restates language from a 2002 transfer agreement limiting the site's use for an African-American heritage museum of at least 125,000 square feet, or for "charitable, educational or public purposes and related uses," excluding drug counseling, medical procedures and other uses.

Court records also show a $49,614 claim against the museum for engineering and surveying services. Bury+Partners-Virginia of Chantilly filed the claim in 2006. Company officials were unable to discuss the matter.

Fredericksburg city officials said they have no idea whether the project still is planned or whether it has been abandoned.

"There's only one person who knows the answer to that," City Manager Beverly R. Cameron said, referring to Wilder. "We haven't heard anything for a very long time. No communication, formal or informal."

The slavery museum's 2007 tax return -- which is dated last March and is the latest on file with the state -- lists $17.6 million in assets, including land.

The museum's Web site, USNationalSlaveryMuseum.org, now is being used to propose a slavery memorial on the National Mall in Washington. The Web site's owner isn't clear.

The Fredericksburg museum project's compounding troubles come as a group in Richmond is taking steps to plan a slavery or African-American heritage museum in Shockoe Bottom.

On Thursday, the Richmond Slave Trail Commission is scheduled to hear a presentation that will include the name and a logo of a foundation that will be established to guide the effort, as well as attorneys who have agreed to work pro bono, said the commission's chairwoman, Del. Delores L. McQuinn, D-Richmond.

She said she hasn't visited the Spirit of Freedom Garden site in Fredericksburg and hasn't tried to draw any conclusions from that project's struggles.

"I've been focused on making sure we have people who will be on board with us, from the mayor to the business community," McQuinn said. "If we're going to move forward, I really want it to be a reality."

Contact Will Jones at (804) 649-6911 or wjones@timesdispatch.com.