ROANOKE, Va., May 13, 2015 – Appalachian Power, operator of the Smith Mountain hydroelectric power generation project in southwest Virginia, has announced that it plans to sell approximately 145 acres of lakefront property it owns on Smith Mountain Lake in Franklin County. The property will be sold at auction in the fall of 2015.

The tract is widely known as the “Kennedy property” and is located in the Union Hall District near Penhook. It includes almost three miles of shoreline and could be sold as 24 separate tracts of various sizes or in one large piece.

An auction is tentatively set for early October. Bids can be submitted for individual tracts, a combination of tracts, or for the entire property allowing for a range of potential buyers from single homeowners to developers.

The auction will be managed by Roanoke firm Woltz & Associates. Additional details will be announced by the firm.

Appalachian Power purchased the property in the early 1960s in preparation for construction of the Smith Mountain Project. Since that time, Smith Mountain and Leesville lakes have been the anchor for economic growth and tourism in the region. The project will celebrate its 50^th Anniversary in 2016.

Appalachian Power’s Smith Mountain Project is a 636-megawatt pumped storage hydroelectric facility that utilizes an upper reservoir (Smith Mountain Lake) and a lower reservoir (Leesville Lake) creating a total of about 600 miles of shoreline.  Water stored in Smith Mountain Lake passes through turbine-generators in the powerhouse to produce electricity and is discharged into Leesville Lake.  Most of the water is retained in Leesville Lake and pumped back into the Smith Mountain Lake for re-use.  Some of the water goes through the turbine-generators at the Leesville powerhouse to generate additional electricity and to meet the minimum discharge requirements of the project's operating license.

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