Find out more The house at 4385 Sailmaker Circle will be auctioned by Signature Auction at 11 a.m. on Aug. 24. The reserve minimum price is $1 million. Previews of the property will be available two to three weeks before the sale and more information is available at www.signatureauctionhouse.com.

After a successful career working across the country managing and building a number of medical device businesses, Rogan Fry decided to return to his native Chattanooga a decade ago when he saw how the city had been transformed and found what he says was an ideal home on Chickamauga Lake.

"I grew up here and after living and looking at many other places around the country, we decided to come back to the beautiful city of Chattanooga that wasn't so beautiful when I left in 1968," Fry said. "Over the years, we kept coming back to visit family and saw the city change and we decided this is our chance to live on the lake in a great city."

But a decade after returning to Chattanooga, Rogan and his wife Diane are now eager to downsize and sell their lakefront home. After buying another home in Ooltewah and trying to sell their 6,936-square-foot home for the past three years, they have decided to auction the property next month.

The couple have employed Signature Auction Co. to conduct a public auction for the lakefront home on Aug. 24. Bidding for the four-bedroom, 6 1/2-bath house, which was initially priced at $2.1 million, starts at $1 million.

Marcus Morris, right, of Signature Auction, is in charge of an auction for Diane and Rogan Fry, left. Realtor Linda Brock is seen in back.

"We just decided we had to bring some closure to this process," Fry said. "This adventure has gone long enough and we need to wrap it up."

The house was erected in 2002 on the site of the original water intakes that were built in the early 1940s to supply the Volunteer Army Ammunition Plant (VAAP). After the munitions plant was shut down, the water intake area on the lake was turned over to the Hamilton County school district for a recreation area before it was ultimately sold to a pair of developers a couple of decades ago and turned into luxury lakefront homes.

The piping structure built for VAAP formed the foundation for the three-story home.

The home at 4385 Sailmaker Circle offers views from both the living room and the lower level that are almost like being on a cruise ship since the home is built right up to the edge of the water. A deck and boat dock, which includes an elevator lift and a unique rooftop Fry designed, jets out into the lake and the deep channel of the river ensures year-round navigation and lake usage. The house includes radiant floor heating and zoned heating to allow for different heating and cooling in different parts of the house and also features a pool, balcony and three-car garage.

The Windward Point gated neighborhood where the house is located includes condominiums, waterfront homes and a subdivision beach.

This is an inside look at Rogan and Diane Fry's front entry way.

"I wouldn't change a thing about this house, which we have thoroughly loved," Diane Fry said. "But it's time to downsize for us."

The Frys said they interviewed three auction companies about selling their house and chose Signature based upon its sales record and its inclusive policy to involve brokers in the sale of any home.

"We think it's smart to include brokers, because we want an inclusive, not an exclusive strategy," said Marcus Morris Jr., vice president of business development for the Knoxville-based Signature Auctions. "We want everybody in the Southeast to know about this, whether they are represented by a broker or not."

Morris said having an auction establishes a deadline for a sale ""which creates competition and the fear of losing the property that motivates buyers to act. That brings velocity to the sale," he said.

Signature Auction has sold luxury homes across the country, including houses from California and Montana to Florida and as far south as St. Thomas in the Caribbean.

Find out more The house at 4385 Sailmaker Circle will be auctioned by Signature Auction at 11 a.m. on Aug. 24. The reserve minimum price is $1 million. Previews of the property will be available two to three weeks before the sale and more information is available at www.signatureauctionhouse.com.

"This is the best way I have seen to sell high-end property, because we are able to generate excitement and energy for a property that traditional real estate marketing isn't always able to do," Morris said.

Chattanooga Realtor Linda Brock, who is listing the property, said the home offers one of the best lakefront homes anywhere in the region and provides a unique type of resort living only 15 minutes from downtown Chattanooga. She said she worked to identify and promote the property, but Signature Auctions will likely bring a broader, national list of investors and buyers and the auction will force potential buyers to make a decision on buying the property.

"We are targeting a market, but they [Signature Auction] are creating a market," Brock said.

Sometimes even the auction event itself spurs buyers and sellers to reach a sales agreement sooner. In a similar auction of the 412-acre Seven Lakes Ranch at 12554 Birchwood Pike in Harrison, a scheduled July 13 auction by Signature Auction was canceled when a sale was struck at 11 p.m. the night before the bidding was to begin. The auction had set a minimum bid of $2.8 million and a sales agreement was reached on July 12.

Three years ago, Signature Auction sold the the largest house in the state of Tennessee and one of the biggest in the country. A Maryville defense contractor paid $6.375 million for the Villa Collina, a waterfront mansion with 50 rooms that overlooks the Smoky Mountains and the Tennessee River in Knoxville.

Contact Dave Flessner at dflessner@timesfreepress.com or at 757-6340.