LAKE COUNTY ? The Lake County Redevelopment Agency will discuss Tuesday what role it should play in the future of the Castle Point Ministries property on 13th Street in Lucerne.
The 75,000 square-foot building, known in the community as “the castle,” is up for sale after the ministry closed its doors Dec. 31 because of economic hardship. It sits on seven acres made up of multiple parcels. In a memo to the redevelopment agency”s board of directors, which is also the Lake County Board of Supervisors, Deputy Redevelopment Director Eric Seely said the agency would like to see it developed as a hotel and conference center.
“The building is an important asset to the community of Lucerne, and we need to decide how to ensure it”s used in the best interest of the community and what is the county”s role in that?” District 3 Supervisor Denise Rushing said. Her district includes Lucerne.
The building has three main floors, two seven-story towers and 77 guest rooms. According to information from the Lake County Museum, the building was finished in 1938 and operated off and on as a hotel until the San Francisco Conservative Baptist Seminary bought it in 1966. Seely said the building needs renovation, but “there is no comparable facility in Lake County.”
The redevelopment agency will consider four options Tuesday: helping the owners market the property, applying for a state grant to evaluate the property, buying parcels the owners may sell to fund maintenance costs, or buying the whole property to hold until a developer can be found.
Twelve Northern California Baptist church pastors sit as the ministry”s board of trustees and own the building, which has been used as a Christian retreat center for more than 40 years.
“We are hopeful that the board of supervisors will allow the redevelopment agency to go forward with the grant money. Part of that block grant is an assessment of the value of the property. We are looking forward to seeing the results of their investigation and appraisals,” Castle Point Ministries Treasurer Kevin Schmidt said.
The ministry”s board of directors decided to sell the building in December after churches who had signed on to use the building for retreats canceled their contracts because of economic hardship, according to Schmidt.
Seely said the redevelopment agency applied for a state grant for underutilized property under the Community Development Block Grant in 2008 to determine the best use for the building, to have it appraised and evaluate its structure. The grant was approved, but the property wasn”t for sale at the time, and Seely said the money was used on other projects.
Contact Tiffany Revelle at trevelle@record-bee.com, or call her directly at 263-5636 ext. 37.
