A Manchester property of the buyer and developer of the former Laconia State School was foreclosed upon and for sale at auction Tuesday.

The building at 4 Elm St. in Manchester, a former children’s school later owned by the American-Canadian Genealogical Society, was bought for $599,000 in 2019 by Four on Elm LLC, one of the real estate companies of Robynne Alexander. Alexander is the developer whose $21.5 million purchase of the Laconia State School was greenlit by the Executive Council in December.

Four on Elm, now dissolved, transferred the property to another of Alexander’s companies, Baker and Elm LLC, in early 2022.

Alexander directed questions to Scott Tranchemontagne, a spokesman for Legacy at Laconia, who emphasized that the Elm property is a “completely separate and unrelated project to the Legacy project in Laconia.”

Tranchemontagne said Alexander had placed the 4 Elm St. property under contract “a while ago,” though could not provide an exact date.

“She was making payments toward the property but essentially ran out of time,” Tranchemontagne said. “She had some new lending lined up but the lending needed until about the third week of April to be closed, and the property owners decided — which is their right — to foreclose.”

Attorney Mark Kanakis, representing the Back2LifeHomes, the mortgagee of the property, did not respond to interview requests Tuesday.

According to the purchase and sale agreement on the website of JSJ Auctions, who lists the property for sale, 4 Elm St. is being sold under power of sale, also known as a nonjudicial foreclosure. Jim St. Jean, the president of JSJ Auctions, declined an interview request for this story.

Concerns about the financial security and experience level of Alexander, and whether the state had sufficiently vetted her, from city officials delayed the sale agreement’s approval when it came before the New Hampshire Executive Council in December. The New Hampshire Bulletin reported that Alexander had not completed a project on the scale of what was proposed for the State School property, and that her biggest project in the state was years behind schedule and had been the subject of a lawsuit.

Both Alexander and state Administrative Services Commissioner Charlie Arlinghaus, whose department oversaw the property and its sale, asserted that Legacy at Laconia, Alexander’s name for the project, had the experience and financial wherewithal necessary for the project. After meetings with the developer, city officials expressed to councilors that their concerns were easing, which a divided council cited when approving the sale agreement in a 3-2 vote.

Tuesday, Laconia Mayor Andrew Hosmer said he was not aware of the foreclosure, but emphasized that the city has continued its meetings and formed a productive relationship with developers.

“In the past couple of months, the city has had continued conversations with Robynne Alexander and her team,” Hosmer said. “She has a team of professionals with experience in similar projects, and I have been feeling better [than I did in December] about their direction.”

Tranchemontagne echoed the mayor’s comment, saying that the talks between Legacy and the city have been “have been very productive and open.” He also emphasized that Legacy had made a $100,000 payment to the state to extend its period of due diligence.

“We are up to speed or on time with any and all obligations to the state with respect to this property, and we’re moving full speed ahead,” Tranchemontagne said. According to Tranchemontagne, the due diligence period will end June 23, and the closing date for the $21.5 million sale is the beginning of September.

A request to the Department of Administrative Service to confirm was not immediately returned Tuesday.

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