Funeral home sold for $470K to developer
by Teya Vitu on Jul. 17, 2007, under Edge, Local
Academy Lofts developer Steve Fenton is the winning bidder for Reilly Funeral Home, 102 W. Pennington St. Fenton will not discuss his plans for the building until the sale becomes official in two weeks.
Corrected version: address corrected
The long-shuttered, built-in-1908 Reilly Funeral Home, 102 E. Pennington St., was bought in a court-ordered estate sale for $470,000 by the developer of the downtown Academy Lofts.
Steve Fenton put in the winning bid Friday at Pima County Superior Court during a hearing arising from the 1995 estate of Mary A. Riley (neé Reilly).
Fenton in 2006 opened the 36-unit Academy Lofts in what were the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart Convent and Immaculate Heart Academy at 35 E. 15th St.
He said he did not want to discuss his plans for the funeral home building until the sale closes in two weeks.
The Reilly “auction” drew the second-largest bidder crowd that Emery Barker, who represents the estate, has seen in his 40 years as a lawyer. Twelve registered bidders showed up at court, and two runners-up were listed with bids of $465,000 and $450,000.
At the start of the day, developer Warren Michaels had a $220,000 offer in what usually would have ended up as his property.
But the confirmation hearing turned into an auction as other bids had to be considered before any sale was confirmed. Barker said that “almost always” there is no second bid.
The court hearing stemmed from the lack of action for 11 years by Riley’s children, Joseph H. Riley and Mary C. Benge, who co-represented the estate.
The court replaced them with John D. Barkley, which ultimately led to Friday’s sale. The funeral home, across from Café Poca Cosa, closed in 1990, and family members continued to live in the upper sections until nine years ago, Barker said.
