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Lake Cumberland marina sold for just over $2 million
The winning bidder knows all about running marinas on Lake Cumberland.
Reporter: Phil Pendleton
Email Address: phil.pendleton@wkyt.com
Selling off a massive piece of floating real estate…was done today in the bank ordered auction of the Cave Springs Marina on Lake Cumberland. The bidding began at just over $1 million, and it ended at more than $2 million, for property including the marina and several other nearby locations.
"We’re with state dock, we own the state dock, we have 98% occupancy. I think the existing marina has closer to 40%, we’d like to grow that quite a bit,” said Michael Bernard, who had the winning bid of $2.7 million, which included the marina and several other pieces of property.
Ford Brothers auctioned off the marina, a nearby mobile home park, cabins, and some storage buildings.
The value placed on the marina is just over $2 million, but a banking official said that it would have gone much higher had it sold on the open market.
The previous owner, Ed Slusser, ran into financial problems after he re-located the marina from shallow waters caused when the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers significantly lowered the lake. The Corps said they needed to lower the lake to take pressure off the leaking Wolf Creek Dam. Slusser blamed the federal government for not helping him recoup lossses in relocating the marina.
Slusser renamed the marina, Cave Springs, after he moved it 5 miles up the Wolf Creek section of the lake. Getting there by land requires a myriad of twists, turns and switchbacks on narrow roads.
“That is a challenge, not the greatest location, but once you get there, it’s one of the most beautiful parts of the lake,” said Bernard.
Conditions of the sale will require Bernard to install sewer lines and make some pavement improvements.
Bernard says he plans to keep the marina in its current location, and not move it back to the Alligator One location when the Corps raises the lake back up when the dam repair work is finished in 2013