Conneaut Lake Park deal is in the works

By Jean Shanley
CNHI News Service

CONNEAUT LAKE July 29, 2008 07:53 pm

— Better days may soon be ahead for financially troubled Conneaut Lake Park.
A significant lease agreement is in the works for portions of the 116-year-old amusement park, officials announced Monday night, and key areas of the park are expected to be in operation by the time Pumpkin Fest rolls around this fall.
An agreement has been reached to lease Hotel Conneaut and other parts of the park for 49 years, including a plan to construct residential condominiums.
As soon as October, it’s possible the park’s Beach Club bar and portions of Hotel Conneaut will be open.
Jack Moyers, chairman of the Board of Trustees of Conneaut Lake Park, said the agreement is contingent upon final approval by the board’s solicitor and the developers’ attorney. However, neither Moyers nor one of the developers, Greg Sutterlin, said they expect any problems with the agreement.
The plans are all part of a lease agreement reached Monday evening between the Board of Trustees and a local partnership of Conneaut Lake-area businessmen Sutterlin, Dick Williams, and Steve and Mark Popovich. Sutterlin said the negotiations started in December and continued for several months before all the details were concluded.
In addition to work at the hotel — which will eventually involve major renovations — plans are to have the Beach Club open by the end of August and to have a Haunted Park event in October. Sutterlin said renovation at the Beach Club will begin today.
The Beach Club lease is only until the end of 2008. It is seen as “a good faith gesture,” Sutterlin said, and both sides indicated additional leasing could continue after that date.
The lease for the other areas of the park, for 49 years, include not only Hotel Conneaut but also the McClure House (a couple of blocks inland from the Beach Club) and some surrounding lots, and a little more than three acres from the canal area down Route 618.
The agreement also includes some “significant cash,” Sutterlin said, and help with construction of a water-treatment building that could then lead to a major state grant to refurbish the park’s aging water system.
Both parties declined comment on the dollar amount of the lease, saying it is contingent on final approval by the board’s solicitor and by the developers’ counsel.
Moyers said plans are to make improvements to the hotel to get it up to code for occupancy permits and then to continue renovations. Plans are to open the hotel as soon as possible, he added, with hopes it will be attracting visitors by Pumpkin Fest in October “if the cards fall right.”
He said plans for the McClure House and the surrounding lots are for future development, including condominiums.
At the same time Moyers announced that Mid America Events will operate the Haunted Park in October. Mid America Events is run by Dominic Baragona who operates Canfield Scaregrounds at the Canfield (Ohio) Fairgrounds.
In conjunction with that, Baragona will meet with a committee from the trustees as well as Pumpkin Fest officials to iron out details and avoid any conflict with Pumpkin Fest, noting everyone involved is “very cognizant of Pumpkin Fest activities.”
Moyers also said as part of the Haunted Park, the goal is to evaluate the miniature train and Devil’s Den rides to be used in conjunction with the event.
He added that the events planned at the park for Conneaut Lake’s sesquicentennial celebration on Aug. 9 and 10 will not be affected by the new agreement.
Conneaut Lake Park was closed in 2007 when there was no money to open. It was built in 1892 and was deeded to the Trustees of Conneaut Lake Park to be held in trust as a park for the citizens of northwestern Pennsylvania.