Ashtabula Co. official: Lodge was worth risk

Geneva Lodge was built for economic diversification and image improvement.
By TIM YOVICH
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
CORTLAND -- An Ashtabula County commissioner says the building of a lodge and conference center at Geneva State Park was well worth it, despite opposition.
"The biggest risk in northeastern Ohio is not taking a risk," Commissioner Robert Boggs said Monday.
Boggs' comments came during a meeting of a group of state legislators, local and county leaders and regional planners.
They are trying to decide if $80,000 should be spent on a feasibility study to determine if a lodge built around Mosquito Lake would be successful.
Not yet self-sustaining
The 109-room Geneva lodge on 20 acres of Lake Erie shoreline opened a year ago, but is not self-sustaining.
Working with the winery industry and covered-bridge community, the lodge will take an additional three to five years to fully market it, Boggs explained.
He said there was opposition to a lodge from those who didn't believe the county should be in the lodging business to those who opposed its location.
The Ashtabula County auditor fought the project to the point where it was delayed a year at an add cost of $1 million, he said.
"You're going to frighten people," Boggs warned.
Boggs suggested that the county government not operate such a facility as Ashtabula County did. Rather, he said, a group similar to a port authority should take the lead.
During the summer and fall, the Geneva lodge has an occupancy rate of 80 to 90 percent and sold out on the weekends. Fifty weddings are booked; at times, two a day.
But occupancy during three winter months has resulted in some thought being given to closing it down except for the bar and restaurant, Boggs said.
Financial matters
The $27.1 million facility was financed mostly by the sale of $14.7 million in bonds, $7 million in loans and hotel bed and real estate transfer taxes, the commission said.
Boggs said the county was able to build up a reserve fund with the tax revenues before the lodge opened to support it until it becomes self-sustaining.
Justification for construction of the lodge was economic diversification and image improvement.
Although the $80,000 feasibility study for Mosquito would be financed through private donations and public funds, the $200,000 feasibility study in Geneva was paid by the state Legislature.
Thomas Chema, chairman of Gateway Consultants Group Inc., which is proposing to do the study, said there is little chance the state would pay for the Mosquito study.
The study is designed to determine if a lodge or similar facility would be successful if constructed and how to finance it.
yovich@vindy.com