A $10.5 million all-cash offer for the shuttered Limestone University campus in Gaffney is moving toward approval after no competing bidder stepped forward by the deadline. HTC Global Services submitted the bid as part of a court-supervised sale process for the 179-year-old school's property, and with the field clear, the receiver's attorney is expected to file a second motion in the coming days asking a magistrate judge to confirm the deal.
No Rival Bidders Emerge Before Deadline
HTC Global Services made its $10.5 million cash offer for Limestone's core campus as part of the court-supervised sale, according to WYFF. The bidding procedures required any competing offer to exceed HTC's bid by at least $500,000, and the auction date had been set for Wednesday with a minimum overbid price of $11,315,000, per wspa.com. No one else came forward, so the public auction scheduled for earlier in the week never happened, WYFF reports.
With the field uncontested, the receiver's attorney is expected to file a second motion in the coming days asking the magistrate judge overseeing the sale to confirm and officially approve HTC as the buyer, the station's report notes. If another bidder had ultimately won the property, HTC would have been entitled to a $315,000 break-up fee, per the same account. A sale approval hearing is expected to follow the auction date, though no date for that hearing has been set, according to FOX Carolina, which reported it was still waiting to hear back from HTC Global Services for comment.
A 179-Year-Old University That Closed in 2025
Limestone University closed in May 2025 after 179 years of operation, citing what wspa.com described as a dire lack of funding. Fox Carolina reported the school announced its financial crisis and plans to close in April 2025, and the university had said it needed $6 million just to remain afloat through the fall semester, according to WYFF.
The decline didn't happen overnight. Enrollment at Limestone fell from 3,214 students in fall 2014 to 1,600 students by the time the closure was announced, according to the South Carolina Daily Gazette, which also cited Inside Higher Ed data showing 15 colleges announced closures in 2023, followed by another 16 in 2024.
Uncertain Acreage, Uncertain Future
Exactly how much land is changing hands remains a bit murky. A property listing from Keen-Summit Capital Partners describes the campus as roughly 121 acres with more than 30 buildings totaling over 552,207 square feet, including six residence halls with a combined capacity of 605 students. But a separate report from The Post and Courier estimates the collateral property at 150 to 180 acres with more than a dozen academic, residential, and athletic buildings. The discrepancy between the two figures hasn't been resolved in available reporting.
What HTC plans to do with the sprawling property once it takes ownership is still unknown, wspa.com reports. The closure has already left a mark beyond the classroom: restaurant sales in Gaffney slipped more than 3 percent after Limestone shut its doors, per the Post and Courier.
Part of a Broader Pattern of Struggling Colleges
Limestone's collapse echoes a pattern playing out at small colleges nationwide. A Chronicle of Higher Education investigation found that $2.2 billion in USDA Community Facilities Program loans had gone to colleges over the preceding decade. The same investigation pointed to Iowa Wesleyan, which owed more than $26 million when it closed in 2023, before its local school district eventually bought most of the core campus for just over $1 million.
For now, Limestone's fate hinges on a magistrate judge's sign-off rather than a bidding war. With no rival offer on the table, HTC's $10.5 million bid stands as the only path forward for a campus that spent nearly two centuries educating students in Gaffney before its lights went out.
