• 
• CLASS
• JOBS
• AUTO
• HOMES

Lake Lawn investors want agreement from Delavan

Photo

Mel Nieuwenhuis

DELAVAN — The investment group planning to reopen Lake Lawn Resort wants a more formal agreement with the city of Delavan than the one already approved.

The council could take action Tuesday on a memorandum of understanding with Lake Geneva philanthropist Jim Drescher and a group of investors planning to reopen the resort.

The discussion will take place in open session, and the council will accept public comment about the Lake Lawn agreement at that point in the agenda, Mayor Mel Nieuwenhuis said.

“I’m going to open it up for public discussion during that time,” Nieuwenhuis said. “Let everybody have a crack at it. Whether council makes a decision or not, we’ll see Tuesday night.”

Nieuwenhuis has taken some criticism for a two-hour closed session the council held with Drescher in March. At the time, the two sides agreed on a list of nine points.

The biggest concession was an agreement for the city to gradually eliminate a $900,000 special assessment for utilities at the resort.

Other things Drescher asked for:

-- Time to repair the resort’s aging plumbing before hooking up to city water.

-- The city to reverse the platting and zoning done for the Lake Lawn expansion planned by the previous owners.

-- Tax incremental financing money for repairs to the resort. Drescher did not specify an amount.

Late last week, Nieuwenhuis said one of the investors that had been working with Drescher dropped out of the mix in late April. That investor represented 25 percent of the $8.6 million the group planned to pay in cash to Anchor Bank. That agreement included Drescher’s group taking over the responsibility for the $900,000 assessment.

Since the investor dropped out, Drescher has made up the difference with new investors, Nieuwenhuis said.

The Gazette was not able to reach Drescher for comment.

Anchor Bank in 2009 filed a foreclosure suit against the resort owners and closed the resort in December after buying it for $19.97 million at a foreclosure sale. More than 300 people lost their jobs.

Nieuwenhuis said Drescher’s group has not been able to work on the golf course at Lake Lawn. Early in negotiations with the bank, Drescher said the golf course must be a priority. Drescher previously said he needed access to the golf course by the end of March to keep it playable for the season.

Negotiations between Drescher and the bank have lumbered on since March.

Drescher has said he raised $12 million from a small group of investors. He intended to use some of the money for repairs and operating costs until the resort could start to turn a profit.