LAKEPORT, Calif. – Nearly eight years after the county of Lake purchased the historic Lucerne Hotel to protect and preserve it, on Tuesday the Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a purchase offer for the building.

The Romero Institute, which proposes to locate its New Paradigm University there, was the lone bidder for the 90-year-old building.

The institute bid the minimum amount, $2.5 million.

The bid was submitted in writing and opened during the Tuesday morning board meeting.

The process also allowed for verbal bids to be submitted, but no one came forward to make an alternate offer.

County Administrative Officer Carol Huchingson said the Romero Institute offer is subject to county staff verifying conditions of the sale.

By day’s end, the Romero Institute was required to deposit 4 percent of the purchase price in an escrow account. The remainder will be due at the end of escrow, Huchingson said.

The board voted unanimously to close the bid before holding a brief discussion.

Supervisor Jeff Smith said it was “tough” to sell the building for $2.5 million.

That was the minimum amount the board had approved when it ruled the building surplus last month and agreed to sell it. The last updated appraisal the county had last year valued the building at $3 million.

Board Chair Jim Steele said the building’s sale is “the end of an era.”

Supervisor Rob Brown countered, “I prefer to think of it as the beginning of an era, I really do,” adding that he thinks some good things are going to come of it, including vitally needed economic development.

Steele added that it would bring confidence to the community and he was comfortable with the sale.

Bill Stranger of the Romero Institute thanked the board and previous boards for their visionary understanding of the value of the facility and their work to bring four year education to Lake County.

He recognized their disappointment with the previous college attempt by Marymount.

However, he said the Romero Institute has expanded the vision for the building’s use, which will include a conference center and education extension program.

Stranger also encouraged the county to send a participant to the upcoming California Adaptation Forum in Sacramento, which looks at how communities prepare for climate change impacts.

He said the first major conference planned for the building under the Romero Institute’s ownership will address the issues of catastrophic wildfires such as those that have hit Lake County and how to turn the disaster into regeneration and renewal.

He thanked former Supervisor Denise Rushing – who had been on the Board of Supervisors at the time the county purchased the building and is now a principal member of the group forming the new college – for her pioneering work in creating the proposal, and said they are looking forward to a very full and productive partnership in creating a unique and visionary project.

Supervisor Tina Scott said she was happy about the effort to bring quality education to the community. She said that would change the dynamic in the county, where there is a low percentage of people with degrees.

Steele passed the gavel so he could make the motion to approve the bid, which Smith seconded and the board approved 5-0.

In June the board had unanimously selected a proposal submitted by the Romero Institute for the purchase of the building, which led to the decision to put the building up for sale.

The 55,000-square-foot hotel building sits on seven acres at the end of 13th Avenue, or The Strand. With its seven story tower, it’s the tallest building in Lake County, and arguably its most impressive.

Over the years it had housed a hotel and restaurant, and was owned by a church group, Castlepoint Ministries, which used it for many years as a retreat before putting it up for sale in 2008.

The building was purchased by the county from Castlepoint Ministries in 2010 for $1.35 million.

Including the purchase prices and extensive renovations, the county’s total investment in the building – much of it redevelopment dollars, meant to help revitalize and restore the Northshore – totals about $4.2 million, according to county staff.

Marymount California University signed a lease with the county for the building in late 2012. Classes opened in the building in 2014.

For the next three years Lake County had its first four-year university, graduating about 30 people who earned both bachelor’s and master’s degrees before Marymount abruptly left, without warning, in June 2017.

The lease between the county and Marymount called for the university to purchase the building within a specific time frame for a base price of $2.5 million, with an additional unspecified amount to be included to reimburse the county for improvements made to the building including the elevator, new classrooms and Americans with Disabilities Act-accessible bathrooms.

This is the fourth major property sale the county has carried out in the past nine months, and the third of those properties located on the Northshore.

In November, the county sold the former visitor information center in Lucerne for $263,500 and Holiday Harbor in Nice for $759,500, both to Bay Area real estate investor Ed Olson, who property records show owns more than 20 Lake County properties.

Then, last week, Lake County Tribal Health bought county-owned properties on Bevins Court in Lakeport for the minimum bid of $294,000, submitted verbally.

With the approval of the Lucerne Hotel sale, all four of those property transactions total approximately $3,817,000.

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