The real estate, indoor aquaculture facility and related equipment at Virginia Cobia Farms in Saltville, Va., will be auctioned off this fall, SeafoodSource has confirmed.
Woltz & Associates, a real estate firm in Roanoke, Va., will handle the auction at a date to be announced, said realtor Quinn Thomas, who will manage the auction. Woltz was assigned to sell the property in April, Thomas said, adding that the property could be sold before the auction.
Virginia Cobia Farms, founded in 2006 by MariCal of Portland, Maine, and Blue Ridge Aquaculture of Martinsville, Va., ceased operations in late December 2013 due to a troubles getting fish up to market size. The 40,000-square-foot building has a dozen 2,000-gallon tanks with biofilter and solids filtration units drawing water from an 800-foot-deep well system, said Thomas.
Virginia Cobia Farms executives could not be reached for comment.
Indoor aquaculture has been met with skepticism by the industry due to high costs and limited capacity.
