The former Dogtown Brewing Co. building is among the properties set to be auctioned. (Mike Platania photos)
The legal limbo surrounding a handful of South Richmond properties tied to imprisoned local businessman Michael Hild looks to be coming to an end.
This week Richmond Circuit Judge Claire Cardwell said she would approve Virginia Credit Union’s request to foreclose on and auction off five Hild-owned properties in the Manchester area, including three restaurant spaces on the 1200 block of Hull Street.
The ruling, which Cardwell said at a hearing Wednesday would be filed in the coming days, will clear the way for the long-sought sale of 1200-1206 and 1209-1213 Hull St., as well as 2010 Maury St. and 1124 Bainbridge St.
The properties have been controlled by VACU since 2024, after loans Hild owed to the credit union fell into default following the collapse of his reverse mortgage firm Live Well Financial. Hild was arrested on fraud charges related to a bond pricing scheme at Live Well in 2019 and was convicted in 2021. After numerous appeals that included a plea for a pardon from President Donald haTrump, Hild reported to federal prison in Petersburg in July to begin his 44-month sentence.
As Hild’s various appeals played out, VACU moved to stabilize and lease up the mixed-use properties, which were the collateral on the loans and had previously been occupied by Hild-owned businesses Dogtown Brewing Co., the Butterbean Market & Cafe and Hot Diggity Donuts. VACU won the right to place the properties in receivership and tapped One South Commercial to handle the listings. One by one the brokerage found new tenants for the spaces: brewpub Bolo’s Eatery, brunch spot The Sassy Biscuit and bakery Scharolina’s Custom Cakes & Confections.
Those properties, along with a single-family home at 2010 Maury St. and a quarter-acre vacant lot at 1124 Bainbridge St., are cleared to be sold at a foreclosure auction later this year. It’ll be conducted by auction house Tranzon, which had hosted other court-approved auctions of Hild properties following his arrest.
The space at the corner of Hull and 12th streets was formerly the home of Butterbean Market & Cafe.
VACU attorney Robert Chappell with the Spotts Fain law firm told Cardwell on Wednesday that plans are to hold the auction in early December, after which the winning contracts will be brought back for court approval in January 2027, with plans to finalize the sales in February.
Per court documents, the occupancy rates of the apartment units above the Hull Street properties’ commercial spaces have increased substantially, and Chappell noted that both the commercial and residential leases at the properties would carry over in a sale.
Proceeds from the sale would go to VACU and the properties’ receiver, Peter Barrett of Kutak Rock, and any surpluses would be held in escrow pending further court orders, Chappell said. The properties were assessed by the city at a cumulative value of $7.03 million, which is more than the $6.2 million amount the credit union claimed it was owed by Hild in its initial lawsuit.
Chappell declined to comment for this article, as did Hild’s attorney, Noah Sullivan of Gentry Locke.
VACU’s motion mentions that it and Hild agreed to a term sheet for the sale of the property after a “lengthy and intensive negotiation.”
“A lot of work went into getting here,” Chappell told the judge Wednesday.
Through their Church Hill Ventures LLC, Hild and his wife, Laura, gradually purchased and redeveloped the properties and other Southside real estate through the mid-2010s.
Excluded from the VACU proceedings are other properties, including the former Siegel’s Super Market at 2005 Hull St., which the Hilds bought nine years ago and was frozen by federal prosecutors in the early days of his criminal proceedings.
While VACU nears its resolution, other legal battles over Hild-related assets continue elsewhere. In federal bankruptcy court in Delaware, the trustee overseeing the Live Well Financial bankruptcy estate continues to try to recoup money from Hild and his wife. Hild also is on the hook for millions of dollars in restitution in his criminal case, which he continues to try to overturn in federal court in Manhattan.
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