SPRINGFIELD – A Decatur-based partnership has been awarded the contract to operate the distressed Eagle Creek Resort at Lake Shelbyville.
The award was announced Friday on the Web site of the state’s procurement bulletin.
Officials from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, which had sought bids from vendors to operate the property after it was shut down last summer, had virtually no other comment about the details of the contract.
“We still have to go through the procurement process and negotiate the contract,” said Chris McCloud, a spokesman for IDNR. “We’re going to let the procurement notice speak for itself.”
Five groups submitted bids to operate the 23-year-old resort about 70 miles southwest of Champaign-Urbana, but only BMDD Resorts Corp.’s bid met the IDNR’s minimum points standard. Points were awarded on the basis of a system that took into account such issues as experience, financial capability, best financial return to the state and addition or expansion of facilities.
State officials declined to release details of the BMDD Resorts bid, or of how it accumulated points.
“We’re very excited about the opportunities connected to Eagle Creek Resort,” said Mike Ballinger of Decatur, one of the three partners in BMDD. The others are his father, Dennis Ballinger, and his brother, Dennis Ballinger Jr. “We look forward to the challenges that lay ahead.”
Dennis Fayhee, owner of the Sullivan Marina and Campground, and one of the unsuccessful bidders for the resort, said he may protest the decision to award the contract to BMDD.
“I haven’t been able to see any information about the decision,” he said. “I don’t have access to anything yet. Until I see something, I can’t see why my bid didn’t meet the minimum standards.”
Eagle Creek was closed last July 14 by its receiver, GF Management of Philadelphia, upon the recommendation of a local judge. The 138-room lodge, with two swimming pools, a conference center, gift shop, boat dock and an acclaimed 18-hole golf course, has severe mold problems, according to a $24,236 study performed for the state.
It estimated that it would cost $892,500 just to remove mold-damage infrastructure and contents from the resort.
“It should be noted that since water intrusion issues have not been addressed and repairs have not been conducted, the amplification of microbiological growth will continue,” said the report by D.A.S. Consulting Services of Springfield. “Therefore, removal of additional building materials will probably be necessary.”
No cost estimate was provided for new infrastructure or the replacement of damaged furnishings.
According to a contract posted on the procurement bulletin Web site, BMDD will pay the state $40,000 a year in rent. But it also will be able to deduct mutually agreed upon expenses, including for improvements or repairs, “enabling the recoupment of lessee’s authorized expenditures to the extent of such reduction. Monthly reduction in payments of net rent may continue until lessee has recovered the approved amounts to the extent recoverable” during the 10-year term of the agreement.
BMDD, said Mike Ballinger, hopes to be able to renovate the resort without demolishing it.
And, “hopefully,” he added, they will be able to reopen at least the golf course by this summer.
“We would like to make the resort what it was and better,” Ballinger said.
He said the corporation has no experience running resorts.
The firm’s Web site says that it specializes “in the completion of foreclosed residential, commercial and industrial properties and conveying ownership to investors and business owners eager to purchase at below market prices.”
Distributed via Chicago Press Release Services