By SANDRA K. REABUCK
EBENSBURG — A bank based in Buffalo, N.Y., is foreclosing on the former Bali Bra property – which now houses the Pennsylvania Academy of Cosmetology – for $1.25 million remaining on a loan to the property owner.
Manufacturers and Traders Trust Co. said in a judgment filed in Cambria County Court that Garman Realty Co. of 725 Luzerne St., Johnstown, owes a total of $1.28 million with interest and legal fees.
The property had been advertised for a sheriff’s sale Dec 18, but the sale has been continued until Jan. 29 at the bank’s request, Mary Lou Varner, a clerk in the sheriff’s office, said Thursday.
The sale apparently would not affect the cosmetology school as a tenant in the Geistown building.
Johnstown attorney Dennis McGlynn, who represents Garman Realty, said that company was owned by Richard Garman, who died in June 2008.
“The property could not be managed by his family, and it is being sold amicably at a sheriff’s sale. It’s an amicable foreclosure,” McGlynn said.
Manufacturers originally filed the civil judgment against Garman in U.S. District Court of Western Pennsylvania, but had the judgment transferred to the county court for the sheriff’s sale.
Varner said that at a sheriff’s sale, the bank or financial institution foreclosing on a property typically is the only one showing up to bid. The foreclosed property then is sold back to the mortgage holder for the costs of the sale, she said.
