The size of the auction was unremarkable. The fact of it -- another 12,737-square-foot office building in Hunt Valley, another mortgage foreclosure -- was definitely routine. The result, however, was not.

"We got more than the mortgage," said Paul Cooper, an auctioneer at Alex Cooper Auctioneers Inc. in Towson, after his firm sold the Gatehouse at North Park building for $775,000 to an unidentified local bank.

Mr. Cooper said the result was probably the first time in five years the firm had sold an office or industrial project for more than the debt on a defaulted loan.

The Gatehouse was developed by local developer Jonathan W. Kolker, with Jerold C. Hoffberger as a partner, Mr. Cooper said. American General Corp., a Houston insurance company, forced the auction to seek repayment of a $760,000 debt.

The building is in the North Park business center at the corner of York and Shawan roads, just east of the Hunt Valley Mall. Three other buildings in the complex were foreclosed upon by New York-based Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association.