An unfinished nuclear power plant in northeast Alabama this morning was auctioned for $111 million.

Nuclear Development LLC, a Washington D.C. based company, promises in its bid to bring 2,000 permanent jobs to north Alabama and up to 4,000 temporary construction jobs.

The company says it plans a $13 billion investment to bring the plant online as an energy producer.

The Tennessee Valley Authority utility held the auction Monday for the Bellefonte Nuclear Plant. Minimum bids were set at $36.4 million.

The utility says it wants the property used in a way that will benefit the surrounding economy of the Tennessee Valley.

"We're happy with the process," said Joe Ritch, executive director of the TVA board of directors. "Glad we were able to finally put it in the hands of someone going forward."

As for the auction selling price, which tripled the minimum TVA sought, Ritch said, "we're very pleased."

Two bidders took part in the auction Monday morning: Nuclear Development LLC and Jackson Holdings LLC. The bidding escalated from the minimum bid to more than $100 million in a matter of minutes before Jackson Holdings had its final bid of $110 million topped by Nuclear Development.

Franklin Haney, whose family owns Nuclear Development, said he envisioned Bellefonte providing electricity throughout the south.

"It can service all the southern states," Haney told AL.com. "Bellefonte is in such a great location."

The $13 billion that Nuclear Development plans to invest in Bellefonte is more than twice as much as TVA has invested, Haney said.

Two entities identified by AL.com as qualified bidders, Phoenix Energy and ACU Strategic Partners, did not take part in the final part of the two-step auction process. ACU is not believed to have attended the auction. Brian Smith, principal projects and configuration manager of Phoenix Energy, told AL.com at the auction that the company could not secure funding to participate in the auction.

Work began at the site in the mid-1970s, but the utility never finished the two-reactor plant as demand for electricity softened.

The purchaser will get buildings and 1,600 acres of land on the Tennessee River.

According to a press release distributed after the auction, Nuclear Development LLC is a family-owned and managed company established in 2012 by Franklin L. Haney. The Haney family has developed a portfolio of more than $10 billion and 15 million square feet of space.

The Haney family has holdings in several states and the District of Columbia, according to the press release. The D.C. area is the family's leading marketplace, including a multi-billion investment in the Dulles Greenway Tool Road in suburban Virginia and the Portals Office Complex in Washington.

Former Alabama congressman Bud Cramer spoke briefly on behalf of the family after the auction. Cramer said the Haney family intends to complete a "state-of-the-art nuclear facility." It will include a digital Instrumentation & Control (I&C) system for the reactor.

Cramer said he did not know what the timetable might be before Bellefonte might be completed and brought online.

"This has been a long time coming," Cramer said. "We think this is a big economic development, a long time coming for this area."

Asked about the production of electricity at a plant TVA said it was not completed because there was no demand for the electricity, Cramer said of Haney, "He is a smart investor and he knows what he's doing."

Cramer said the Haney family has been in communication with the executive board of TVA for several years with an eye toward acquiring Bellefonte should TVA decide to part with it.

As the winning bidder, Nuclear Development must pay 20 percent of the purchase price to TVA by Wednesday under terms of the auction.

Updated today, Nov. 14, 2016, at 10:38 a.m. and at 11:08 a.m. with additional information.

AL.com columnist John Archibald contributed to this report.