Condos planned for C.L. Park site

By Jane Smith

01/12/07 January 12, 2007 12:53 pm

— SUMMIT TOWNSHIP — Greg Sutterlin of Conneaut Lake confirmed Thursday that he is the individual who submitted a bid to purchase the 3.3 acres of land at Conneaut Lake Park.
“We are in negotiations now,” he said, adding he hopes to close soon so he can begin construction in the spring on condominiums at the site.
Conneaut Lake Park had sought proposals to purchase the land which once housed the Flynn House. It received two proposals from two local developers, neither of which met the guidelines of the advertised requests. Since then it also received another proposal, which didn’t meet the guidelines either.
On Jan. 2, Sutterlin submitted a bid to purchase the land and the court-appointed manager, LeRoy Stearns, sought legal advice to determine whether he could accept it. Told he could do so, he then turned the bid over to the park’s attorney, who began working out the details with Sutterlin and his attorney.
Sutterlin is organizing a limited liability corporation, Conneaut Lakeside Residential, to complete the transaction. “There will be investors, but no partners,” he said of the corporation.
“I was really interested in keeping the park alive. It seemed like if somebody did not bid on the land, it (the park) was not going to open.”
His plans include construction of a maximum of three condominium buildings, which will have 10 units each. “They will be luxury condos,” Sutterlin said, with a heated pool, recreation area, boating docking spaces for residents and their guests, as well as parking.
“They will have all the amenities,” he added.
“They will be built in phases,” he said, and the number built will “depend on the topography and surveys (of the land).”
In addition, there are four homes with leased land within the area being purchased. Sutterlin will not require residents to move. “They can stay if they want,” he said. Or, if the owners desire, he will move their homes to other sites.
The condos will either be on lakefront property or “lake view,” meaning residents will have a view of Conneaut Lake.
“I have been coming up here for 30-plus years,” he said, noting he owns a lakefront home on the east side of Conneaut Lake. “I am hoping there will be great years ahead for the park.”
Sutterlin said the idea of the proposed sale was to allow the majority of the debt to be paid to allow the park to open on schedule this year, free of a lot of debt. He believes his bid will allow that to happen.
The area also includes the McClure House, which was the first structure in the 115-year-old amusement park. The house has deteriorated and Sutterlin wants to investigate whether any grant money would be available to preserve it — providing it’s able to be preserved.
Stearns said Thursday that the bid meets all the guidelines of the previously advertised proposal and he is hopeful the deal can be completed soon.
Neither Sutterlin nor Stearns is at liberty yet to give all the bid details, pending the final negotiations. Once negotiations are complete, Stearns will take it to the court for approval.
The park was deeded to the Trustees of Conneaut Lake Park by former owner and operator Gary Harris in 1996 to be held in trust for the citizens of northwestern Pennsylvania.
After a lawsuit was filed by a former member of the board, the park was declared a charitable trust and now is under jurisdiction of the attorney general’s office and the court.