Resort set
for auction
on Sept. 3
Valley of Lakes owner
owes over $1.8 million
By Katrina Veeder
The REPUBLICAN
In less than three weeks, a resort owner could lose
his company's $25 million investment if he cannot find the money to stop
a sheriff-ordered sale.
Frank M. Cedrone, managing partner of CBG Ltd., Hazleton,
which owns Valley of the Lakes and Eagle Rock Resort, Nuremberg, has until
Sept. 3 to find the money to keep the property.
CBG Ltd. owes at least $1,870,672 to First Eastern
Bank, Scranton, according to the Luzerne County sheriff's office.
The property is up for sale to satisfy a judgment the
bank has against CBG Ltd.
Legal ads began running in newspapers Friday announcing
a public auction of the property at the Luzerne County Courthouse, Wilkes-Barre,
at 10 a.m. Fridav, Sept. 3.
Only the Luzerne County portion, which is the bulk
of the approximately 4,000-acre property, will be sold at the auction,
according to Chief Deputy Sheriff Carol Roman.
Margaret "Peg" Conroy, Schuylkill County
chief assessor, today said the Schuykill portion of the lands may be sold
at a tax-claim sale at a later date.
Her office is looking at the issue of tax delinquency
regarding the properties.
Some of the Luzerne lots have been cleared of trees
and brush and some are virgin land, according to Myles R. Wren an attorney
for First Eastern Bank, which stopped financing the project in 1990.
Cedrone, who lives in New Jersey, said last month that
the bank stopped its financing because hard economic times hit. Wren declined
to comment on the matter.
Unimproved property listed in the advertisement - the
majoritv of the land up for auction - has an approximate market value of
$1.9 million.
Parts of the development, which is six miles south
of Hazleton are in East and North Union towships, Schuylkill County, and
Hazle and Black Creek townships, Luzerne County.
Cedrone was unavailable for comment Friday afternoon
or today but had said previously he was close to a deal with unnamed private
investors to save the resort from sale.
Cedrone's company filed for protection from its creditors
under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy law on March 30, 1992. Later that
week, 175 of the resort's 250 emplovees were laid off.
Bought in 1986, CBG invested $10 million in improvements
and another $7 million into the ski facilities.
"It's just too bad because we're losing,"
said Roman "We're not happy about it." Eagle Rock Resort, which
includes Fireside Base Lodge, Eagle Rock Lodge, 12 ski trails and three
chairlifts, did not open for the 1992-1993 ski season.
Lots in the 6-square-mile property are filled with
$250,000 family and vacation homes along the development's two man-made
lakes. Two more lakes, a 48-unit motel and convention center and a golf
course were planned for future construction.
Eagle Rock continues to operate the basic services
for the nearly 1,200 property owmers in the development including security
patrols, utilities and lighting, according to Cedrone.
The development includes a golf course, tennis courts,
equestrian ring and public restaurant.
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