FLDS facility auctioned for $1.65 million
 
By Ben Winslow
Deseret Morning News
 
Tom Erkelens started the bidding at $1.2 million.

"It went to one million five and then it went to one million 550, one million 600 thousand, one million 650 thousand and then it just stopped right there," he said Tuesday. "I couldn't get another bid."

At $1.65 million, the Western Precision building in Hildale was auctioned off to the highest bidder — a company planning to lease it to Provo-based Champion Safe, officials said.

Representatives of Cham- pion Safe did not return phone calls seeking comment Tuesday.

The auction of land owned by the Fundamentalist LDS Church's financial arm was meant to generate some badly needed revenue for the United Effort Plan Trust. Lately, the trust has been so cash poor it can't pay its fiduciary or attorneys.

"It was less than I wanted," admitted Bruce Wisan, the court-appointed special fiduciary of the UEP Trust.

Wisan had to sign off on the winning bid. Initially, he was not going to settle for less than $1.9 million. He reconsidered after noting what he said were some very positive factors.

"I like the fact that it's manufacturing. I like the fact that it's somebody from outside coming in, bringing in substantial new jobs," he said. "To me, this is a bigger plus."

Wisan said the gun safe maker plans to bring 75 to 150 jobs into the polygamous border town. Auctioneers believe the stigma surrounding Hildale may have hindered the number of people rushing to sign up, even though the building is considered a manufacturing marvel — a 55,000-square-foot facility that is finished and state-of-the-art.

Only five people put down a $25,000 deposit to bid. Two were actively involved in the bidding war, Wisan said.

"It's a heck of a deal," the fiduciary said. "A real steal, but there will be some real benefits to it."

Shortly after a lawsuit was filed by Wisan over the property, FLDS-linked Western Precision left the building to move to Las Vegas, renaming itself Newera Manufacturing.

The UEP Trust controls nearly all of the land, businesses and homes in Hildale, Utah and Colorado City, Ariz. In 2005, a judge in Salt Lake City's 3rd District Court took control of the financial empire amid allegations that FLDS leader Warren Jeffs and others had been fleecing it.

Jeffs, 51, is facing criminal charges in St. George's 5th District Court, accusing him of forcing a teenage girl into a child-bride marriage with an older man.

E-mail: bwinslow@desnews.com
 
deseretnews.com
Originally published Wednesday, February 28, 2007
 
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