City Finance Director Carmen Johnson today opened a sealed upset bid on the Roanoke Rapids Theatre for $2 million, which was accompanied by a $100,000 deposit.

The bid, which was hand-delivered to city hall Thursday shortly after 4:30 p.m. was submitted by the Roanoke Rapids law firm of Wellman & White, which represents a group of interested buyers that includes Weldon Mills Distillery.

The opening of the bid and the amount proffered makes this the new qualified offer and will trigger another upset bid period.

Clerk Traci Storey said the city could potentially have the next upset bid notice posted by later today.

The bid submitted by the law firm on behalf of their clients represents a $250,000 increase over the upset bid by The Victor Enterprises — $1.75 million, which was opened on June 19.

Councilman Wayne Smith, who has long been an advocate of selling the venue, attended the upset bid opening. “I’m glad to see them come in,” he said of the upset bids. “Maybe we can move forward. Ten days is a long time for another upset bid to come. We’ll have to wait and see if another one comes through.”

Councilman Rex Stainback, who also attended the upset bid opening, said, “Obviously there’s some interest in it. That’s why the upset bid process is there to do what's best for the city. It takes all the politics out of it. The 10-day upset bid process was created to make sure we have fairness in it.”

Stainback said the city receiving upset bids is a positive move in the right direction for the city. “I think it’s great that we’re going to get as much as we can for the theater. Ultimately that’s what we all wanted anyway.”