LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The city of Clearlake’s planned sale of the former Austin Resort property to a developer has fallen victim to the economic uncertainties of the pandemic.
In May, the Clearlake City Council voted to sell the former resort property to Bailey Building and Loans LLC, a development firm that had planned to build a resort destination there, as Lake County News has reported.
The property includes two parcels, 4.74 acres located at 14061 Lakeshore Drive and owned by the city’s redevelopment successor agency and 2.94 acres at 14071 Lakeshore Drive held by the city.
The proposed purchase price for both parcels was $915,350.
However, the COVID-19 pandemic has put a stop to the plan.
“They have stepped away from the deal at this point,” City Manager Alan Flora told Lake County News regarding the developer’s intentions.
“They were hesitant to move forward with anything early on in COVID. I am not sure if there is any chance of resurrecting the deal at this point,” he said.
At its Feb. 18 meeting, the Clearlake City Council approved two lists of surplus properties – one for city-owned properties and one held by the Clearlake Redevelopment Successor Agency – to send to the state in order to adhere to a state law that seeks to use surplus government-owned properties for affordable housing development.
The parcels at 14061 and 14071 Lakeshore Drive were included on the list, although Flora signaled at the meeting that the city wants to see the site properly developed.
He told Lake County News the same.
“We expect this to really be an impact project eventually and are confident that we can engage another partner,” he said. “I would say that we have so many other significant development projects underway right now that we are focusing all of our attention on those unless someone comes forward with a plan we like on the Austin Resort. I think we will put more energy into this one in the next one to two years when we have some of our other projects built.”
Flora noted that the city has had a couple of other people come in with an interest in doing an RV park or something at Austin Resort, “but we are not interested in seeing anything besides a quality resort development there.”
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