× Thanks for reading! Log in to continue. Enjoy more articles by logging in or creating a free account. No credit card required. Log in Sign up {{featured_button_text}}

The initial round of bidding on 29 apartment buildings once owned by Billy Gene Jefferson Jr. in the Fan and Museum districts was robust, resulting in a large but unspecified number of bids, auction company representatives said Thursday.

The first round of bidding ended Wednesday at 5 p.m. The top two-thirds of bidders will be invited Monday to participate in the final auction at 10 a.m. Thursday at the Spotts Fain law office at 411 E. Franklin St.

“We are very pleased with the amount of responses locally and from outside of Virginia,” said Tim Dudley, vice president of Sperry Van Ness/Motleys, the commercial real estate division of Motley’s Auction & Realty.

The auction company is in the process of compiling spreadsheets with the bid amounts. Some bids were for all 29 apartments — 441 units — while others were for clusters of buildings or individual apartments. Some investors want to buy, for example, all the apartments on the Boulevard or Monument Avenue, Dudley said.

Others see this as an opportunity to start an apartment ownership and management company in Richmond, Dudley said.

Billy Jefferson ordered to pay $9.6 million for tax credit scheme Billy Gene Jefferson Jr., a former Richmond developer and major property owner, will pay $9.…

Billy Jefferson's sentence is appealed Lawyers for convicted tax schemer Billy Gene Jefferson Jr. hope to get his 20-year sentence …

The proceeds will be used to make restitution to victims of Jefferson’s tax credit scheme.