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Another portion of Ponderosa Park sold at sheriff’s sale
By Sean Barron
YOUNGSTOWN
A Warren company that bought a portion of a longtime former country-music park at a sheriff’s sale earlier this year has bought its front section in similar fashion.
During Tuesday’s sheriff’s sale in the basement of the Mahoning County Courthouse, Equity Portfolio LLC Ltd. paid $150,000 for 45.45 acres of Ponderosa Park just north of Salem in Goshen Township. Equity Portfolio represents the mortgage holder.
The parcel at 9362 state Route 45 had been appraised at $225,000 and was bought at two-thirds of the appraised value, which is the minimum bid allowed at a sheriff’s sale under state law.
During such a sale March 27, Equity Portfolio bought more than 68 acres off West Western Reserve Road for $700,000, nearly five times the appraised value of $144,000.
Atty. Leo Puhalla of Youngstown, who represents Equity Portfolio, did not return phone calls Tuesday to comment on plans for the property.
The property bought Tuesday includes an outdoor stage, a structure containing a guitar-shaped swimming pool and a dilapidated concert pavilion that seated up to 3,800 people.
The park, owned by California-based Ponderosa Park Resort Inc., was a hot spot between the 1970s and 1990s. Country-music legends such as Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, June Carter Cash, Merle Haggard, Tammy Wynette, Pam Tillis, Faith Hill, Mark Chestnutt, the Charlie Daniels Band, Marty Stuart, the Oak Ridge Boys and George Jones performed there.
Ponderosa Park, however, fell victim to a series of poor business decisions, which led to its closing in June 2010. That year, 962 deed liens had been placed against it.
The front portion was to have been sold during the March sheriff’s sale, but was withdrawn because of inadequate technical and legal language regarding the land map.
Atty. Gary J. Rosati, whom the county hired to foreclose on the property, had asked that the front portion be reappraised in light of the amount received during the initial auction in March for the back part, something the county declined, he said.
A third portion consisting of 38.5 acres of campgrounds won’t be ready for auction for about two years, Rosati had said.
Rosati noted that the park had a debt of a few million dollars as of last March.