LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – On Tuesday the Board of Supervisors opened bids for the county-owned Holiday Harbor property and approved the top purchase offer.

In January, the board approved moving forward with selling the property, located at 3605 and 3655 Lakeshore Blvd. in Nice, as Lake County News has reported.

The county's former redevelopment agency purchased the six-acre property – which has 400 feet of lake frontage, docks, a launch ramp, boat slips, a two-story residential duplex, commercial building and several outbuildings – in June 2008 for about $2 million, as Lake County News has reported.

Based on a property appraisal and a real estate broker's opinion, the board approved a minimum purchase price of $1.2 million.

During the Board of Supervisors' meeting on Tuesday afternoon, Chair Rob Brown opened two bids that had been submitted for the property.

The first, which at $500,000 was well below the required minimum, was submitted by real estate broker Scott Wolmuth on behalf of Active Realty of Santa Rosa.

The only other bid submitted was for $1,200,100 and came in from Tim Vi Tran of The Ivy Group on behalf of Bella Lago Development.

The board offered the chance for individuals to make bids from the floor for more than The Ivy Group's bid, but no one came forward, and the board voted unanimously to accept the top bid.

By 4 p.m. Tuesday, the winning bidder needed to deposit 4 percent of the proposed purchase price – or approximately $48,004 – with a Lakeport title company, according to Deputy County Administrative Officer Josh Jones.

Jones confirmed to Lake County News on Wednesday that the funds were deposited.

“We got the escrow money so now we suspect the escrow period will be about 60 days,” said Jones, noting that's a typical timeframe for commercial property transactions.

“There's a lot of due diligence to be done on their part still but we're hoping that everything goes through with flying colors,” Jones said.

Tran had held a separate contract with the county to market the property, Jones said, adding that any broker was able to bring a buyer to the table. “He happened to have a buyer.”

The proposed buyer, Bella Lago Development, is the same entity that purchased the 104-acre Robin Hill property on Lakeshore Boulevard in Lakeport in a tax default sale in the spring of 2014.

County officials reported that the Robin Hill parcel was purchased for $723,000, well below the $2.6 million in taxes and penalties that had accrued over 20 years of default between different owners.

In that case, as in that of Holiday Harbor, The Ivy Group also had been hired by the county to market the property, county officials reported.

As for what plans Bella Lago Development might have for Holiday Harbor, Jones said the county has not heard anything about them.

However, he said the buyer has seen the county's original marketing plan for the property, which had included a boutique hotel and restaurant, and marina operations.

As for the income from the sale, Jones said the county's assessment so far is that it would be unrestricted revenue. “Hopefully, that holds true,” he said.

In light of the local government's struggles in the wake of last year's fires, Jones added that it's a good – and timely – inflow of funds for the county.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.