MANASSAS — Annaberg Manor now belongs to Manassas residents.
The city council agreed to purchase the nearly four-acre property for $846,000 using funds it got from the sale of the property it owned on Gateway Boulevard, behind a DMV office.
In an agreement with the property owner Prince William Hospital Corporation (Novant/UVA Health System Prince William Medical Center), the city will keep $75,000 to use to rehabilitate the nearly 130-year-old manor home.
“The public doesn’t see everything, but we want them to know we’ve reached an agreement for purchase,” City Manager Patrick Pate told the city council.
The city must prove to the Prince William Hospital Corporation that it used the funds to fix the dilapidated home, which the hospital corporation was used as office space for a nursing home, which operates on the adjacent parcel of land.
With the nursing home still in operation and sitting on about four acres of land next to the manor property, the hospital must notify city officials if it plans to sell the property to a firm that plans to use it for any other reason than a nursing home, according to the purchase agreement.
No plans have been released for what the city plans to do with the manor. Some have speculated it could become a city park.
The city is excepted to take control of the property in the next 60 days. When it does, Pate urged residents not to go inside the house because it’s unsafe and urged them to instead walk on the parklike property grounds.
City officials have not yet announced plans for the property, however, it will most likely be used for a park once conditions in the manor house are improved. It could be late summer or early fall before the park master planning process begins, said Pate.
The motion to purchase the property made by Councilwoman Pamela Sebesky, and seconded by Councilman Ken Elston passed unanimously.
Annaberg Manor was once a summer home to brewer Robert Portner and is one of the first homes in the U.S. have air conditioning. Starting in the 1960s, the house was used as a retirement home. Offices for the retirement home occupied the house until 2006.
