Roderick Pompey is the owner of the block of buildings that were up for auction last week in downtown York and another building on Highway 11 that he plans to turn into a fish house, which would sale fresh fish and sandwiches.

Pompey is a business owner from Birmingham that is also a Prison Minister. Pompey didn’t want to talk to the Demopolis Times before he could close on his deal for the buildings on Tuesday.

He plans to meet with local business owner Kaye Kiker and the Mayor of York Carolyn Gosa for lunch on Tuesday. Pompey will then talk about his plans to turn the buildings into businesses for the City of York.

“I want to let the bidder know that we are open for business here in the city of York. The City of York is a buzz with the hope that the buyer will do something positive with the eight buildings,” Mayor Gosa said. Thursday, The Black Belt Land&Realty INC. auctioned off a whole block of York’s historic downtown consisting of eight buildings that are currently owned by the Coleman Estate.

There were a lot of bids for single buildings, but one man, Roderick Pompey came in without anyone knowing him or anything about him and placed a $120,000 bid for all eight buildings. Since Thursday’s auction, no one has heard a word from the potential owner of a piece of downtown York.

“The auction was the most talked about event for our town in a while,” said local business owner Kaye Kiker.

The town is now in a state of shock and wonderment over the dreams of what Pompey will do with these buildings.