LAKEPORT >> The Lake County Board of Supervisors approved auction sale of all eight parcels of Holiday Harbor for a loss of almost $800,000.
“At some point you have to cut your losses,” District 4 Supervisor Candidate Martin Scheel, who has rented a slip in the harbor for more than 10 years, said. “I’m glad that we sold it … I never felt the county should’ve been in the marina business.”
The winning bid for the resort and marina in Nice came from Tim Vi Tran of The Ivy Group, representing Bella Lago Development. The offer was $1,200,100 — $100 more than the minimum price set by the county but less than what the county’s Redevelopment Agency purchased it for in 2008.
According to county documents, Tran was hired by the county to help market the property and due to his winning bid the county will give him a commission. That rate wasn’t confirmed but staff recommended it at 4 percent on Jan. 19 when the BOS approved an intention to sell the property.
It also isn’t clear what Bella Lago intends to do with the property. Regardless, public access to the adjacent beach will remain. The BOS made sure of this earlier when it passed an easement, allowing entry between zero and 7.79 feet on the Rumsey Scale.
Additionally, the sale comes as good news to the county as funds are stretched thin due to the Valley Fire and a looming property tax loss.
“The county is no longer dumping Band-Aid money in the property,” Scheel said. “Now there’s a private owner, generating income for the tax base. I hope the developer looks into it and has a grand plan with it.”
On the day of the approval, Tran had to make a deposit of 4 percent (about $48,000) of the bid to Lakeport Title. That deposit has been paid, according to the county.
There was another written bid for $500,000 but there weren’t any additional oral bids after the winning one was read.
