Aiden Bunning
For 10 years after the school's closing, Virginia Intermont College's campus sat abandoned.
Virginia Intermont College was left with classrooms filled when they closed. Books, computers, and furniture all still remained in their former location. To use these resources and to help counter the financial struggles, a form of large sale was set up to sell the contents of the no longer used classrooms that September.
The announcement of Virginia Intermont College’s closing came as a hard blow to the students and alumni. While it was inevitable given the financial situation of the institution, it was tragic to those who had established efforts to save the school amidst its crisis.
Beyond the work of the school and local officials, students wanted to preserve the community that they had become a part of and worked to raise money. These efforts were established by students from all over the country who had made their home in Bristol.
Despite the work put into saving the school, many still believed more could have been done. Additionally, some blamed Dr. E. Clorissa Phillips, the president of the college for the last few years of operation, for the financial troubles.
But farther than this, the future of V.I. at this time was put into great consideration and actions were taken to make something of the campus.
Following Phillips’s stepping down, the interim president position was given to Art Rebrovik. He was the CEO of a Nashville-based management consulting firm when he took on the role, and he immediately looked to the future of the site.
While the future was uncertain for the school, Rebrovik claimed that the campus would never fulfill the same purpose again.
“We don’t see this right now as a future college, the way we were before. We have an accreditation issue, which runs out this summer,” Rebrovik said, “we have, obviously, some pressing financial matters and right now we are focused on how we take care of the employees, faculty and staff that are still here.”
According to Rebrovik, other local colleges helped transition former students and gave them opportunities to fulfill their education, such as providing students with teach-out programs. These written plans ensured that students were going to be able to complete their program of study.
Likewise, some of the major programs that were previously established at V.I. were in consideration to be taken over by other schools in the region. Specifically, equine studies, a large program for the school, was later taken over by Emory & Henry.
But through all of the uncertainty, Rebrovick continuously determined that this was not the final closing of the school, but instead an exploration of new opportunities.
Despite this, he did not rule out the possibility of filing for bankruptcy if it came down to it.
This period of unsettled relationships and continuously increasing financial issues brought about the loss of jobs for about one hundred employees. The grants provided to the school during this time—and the attempts to get more—seemed unsuccessful.
On May 12, 2014, a matter of days after the announcement of the school’s closure, VI was ordered to pay back over $16,000 by local courts. If there was a failure to fully pay on time, interest would start to accumulate on the already high amount.
But, as the site of the institution remained vacant and the stark reality of the school’s closing settled in, other uses for the campus drifted into view.
Later in 2014, the vacant site caught the eye of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services as a place to house immigrant children due to the great number of unaccompanied minors illegally crossing the border at the time. This idea, however, was disproved by local officials and was deemed an inappropriate use for the location. It was not long before it was officially determined that this was an improbable use.
At this same time, problems of upkeeping the historic institution became apparent. While most of the damage as a result of improper maintenance was cosmetic, it was only the start to what would become an ongoing issue.
Rebrovick acknowledged the needed repairs but did not make public the amount of debt that the institution had come under. It was, however, known that it was a substantial amount.
“There has been some deferred maintenance, which isn’t uncommon. We’ve been on a [financial] diet,” he said.
He also reflected on his past few months as president, explaining that the time since graduation was spent organizing the school’s finances. Once again, he reiterated that the new use for the campus—as was the hope of VI’s board of trustees—was going to be something that gave back to the community.
Virginia Intermont College was left with classrooms filled when they closed. Books, computers, and furniture all still remained in their former location. To use these resources and to help counter the financial struggles, a form of large sale was set up to sell the contents of the no longer used classrooms that September.
Near the end of 2014, the interim president claimed that there was interest in the property from possible buyers. But this came to be the end of updates on the school for an extended period of time.
Occasional meetings took place with local officials to further discuss the future of the vacant site, but each came up with no further plans.
Hopes to revitalize the site grew once more in October of 2016. Bluefield College, a private Baptist university in Bluefield, Virginia, sought to purchase the campus to expand its offerings. The former VI campus would house a new engineering program, along with other math-related courses.
This purchase, however, fell through as Bluefield College could not justify the costs of repairs that would have been necessary across the campus.
The next offer for the site was rejected by the primary creditor of VI. While most public details of the proposal are vague, it was supposed to be a form of health care service.
In December, a buyer for the former campus was determined after the property moved to a public foreclosure sale. George Xu, a representative of the U.S. Magis International Education Center, spoke of the goal to establish a four-year business college.
“I’m so glad we have won the bid. Our plan is to use this over-100-year-old campus to set up a new college and very likely it will be a succession of Virginia Intermont,” Xu said.
However, this company is New York-based and Chinese-owned, already establishing disconnection to the community. They gained ownership of the campus for $3.3 million, reportedly less than what was offered in the proposal for the medical service company.
If the new owners of the property wanted to establish a college, they would have needed to get proper accreditation. This process, as elaborated upon by Xu, is long, and in the meantime, improvements to the physical campus became the focus.
Public announcements about the progress in forming the new college slowed down. It wasn’t until 2018 that information on the steps taken was made known through local press.
This included information on the company’s withdrawal of its approved application from the State Council on Higher Education in Virginia. The explanation for this decision was based on the council’s ambitious timeline.
In 2019, an opening time frame of fall 2020 was announced, creating anticipation for the revitalization of the campus and the surrounding side of town which had experienced a turn since VI’s closing.
While many alumni were still sad at the loss of Virginia Intermont College, the promise of a new use for the campus was better than nothing in their view.
Approval for the school was given by the state, everything seemed in order for the approaching opening date.
March 2020, however, quickly led to a turn of events. With the rise of the pandemic and its persistence through the year, the opening was delayed to a later date. This time was not specified.
Through the pandemic, the campus was quiet and boarded up. This became a trend for the following years, as no news of an intended opening date was released, and inevitably, the new college never opened.
The U.S. Magis International Education Center started to fall behind in paying their taxes on the property, but the city still lacked much of an ability to do anything to manage the site.
The abandoned campus, now in extreme disrepair, became a refuge for local homeless and some criminal activity.
With worsening conditions of the site, the city of Bristol, Virginia notified the owners that they had a month to submit a plan for improving the conditions in October 2023. While a plan was submitted, little of the details were executed.
In February 2024, a fire was reported within the drained pool on campus. The fire was extinguished and no major damage was done, but it raised a great number of concerns.
This fire, as stated by the Bristol, Virginia Fire Department, was started by trespassers when they lit garbage within the pool. Local officials found this small fire as worrying for the state of the campus and as just one of many examples of trespassers causing damage.
Inevitably, this turned back to the New York-based company which held the responsibility of managing the property. Members of the Bristol City Council made statements reflecting on the company’s negligence and failure to properly maintain and secure the property.
These statements called out the company and told them to take responsibility for the campus. They described the events as something that should be avoided, and as proof that they need to do something, whether this be making use of it or selling it.
Within these, Neal Osborne said “It’s an eventuality that these types of things might happen, and that’s what [they] would like to avoid .”
Efforts of the city to call out the company and work to make something of the campus continued, but they were all unsuccessful on a large scale.
“Although they needed repair, the buildings were truly beautiful,” said Tammy Nichols, a VI alum.
However, the seriousness of the site became apparent when a homeless man was shot in early July 2024. The victim was suspected to have been staying within one of the buildings on campus.
On Wednesday, November 13, 2024, a second fire was reported on the campus. This one came to be much more serious than the previous one, burning through the former library. The building was still full of books and other materials from its previous use, making the fire spread rapidly through the structure.
During the few hours before the fire was put out, the blaze spread through the basement, first, and second floors. The great damage acted as a testament to the school’s condition and raised further concern for the future of the campus.
The source of the fire was suspected to be accidental and no blame was placed beyond the poor condition of the site as a result of the company’s neglect.
To many, the need to address the campus was becoming more dire, and a delay in doing something could be catastrophic.