LAKEPORT >> The Lake County Board of Supervisors agreed to broaden the scope of potential uses for the Lucerne “Castle” as the county seeks to lease or sell the property abandoned by Marymount University.
When the county pursued an occupant in 2011, the goal was to find a college or university willing to set up in the facility. The new Request for Proposal (RFP) guidelines will extend beyond educational or hospitality pursuits.
“The 2011 RFP was primarily focused on educational pursuits but based on the discussions we’ve had it would be our intention to have the RFP provide a broader ray of potential proposals. So education would be one of them, but we would also invite training programs, hotels and other kinds of economic endeavors that would be good for the community, you name it,” County Administrative Officer Carol Huchingson said.
Although the type of business or organization is open, the board limited terms to three options. Those filing RFPs must be interested in an outright purchase of the property, purchase through lease or a long term lease of no less than 15 years.
“The hope would be to have some kind of operation that would go for the long haul in the community,” Huchingson said. “Following the RFP process, we would bring the top proposals to the board for consideration.”
The RFPs will go out in early 2018. Should an RFP be approved, the county would enter into an option agreement and let the most qualified bidder choose to lease or purchase the property.
“An option agreement would bind the county, meaning that the castle would be tied up waiting for the final terms of the long-term agreement to come together, and during this the proposer would have flexibility while we continue to negotiate and they secure the resources and plans to move forward with a long-term agreement,” Huchingson said.
When this happens, she added that the successful bidder would have to come forward with a predetermined amount to deposit with the county. The figure will be announced once the RFP is released.
In order to fend off casual interest, a qualification letter will be part of the RFP process. This was also part of the 2011 bid. Huchingson said the reason behind it was because there were inquiries about the castle from those who are not serious about buying.
“Staff wants to take from now until February to develop what qualifications there should be and those might vary depending on whether the proposer is suggesting to lease or purchase it, but basically what we would be looking for is making sure there is a solid business connection and financial resources to move forward,” Huchingson said.
District 3 Supervisor Jim Steele said this is a positive step forward and there is a lot of potential out there for the property.
“This will be good I’m glad we’re going into a more of a formal approach to this so that these things are laid on the table rather than speculative and you really have no idea if they have what they say they do,” Steele said.
The target date to release the RFP is February 1.
