Timothy Hill Children’s Ranch, a non-profit organization based in New York which operates a residential facility for youth will be taking control of Lakeside Resort next week.
The Upper Cumberland Human Resource Agency has sold the financially troubled resort, which is located off Cookeville Highway on Center Hill Lake.
According to Luke Collins, Executive Director of UCHRA, the transfer will become official with the signing of all documents on Tuesday, March 15 now that the UCHRA has received an assignment of lease from the Real Estate Committee of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for the finalization of the sale of Lakeside.
“Timothy Hill Ranch has purchased the assets of the property and the rights to lease the property. The Army Corps of Engineers has approved for them to take over our lease of the property and for them to be renters of the property. The contract has been signed. The money exchange will take place on March 15,” Lakeside Manager Bob Sotis told WJLE.
Under terms of the sale, Timothy Hill Ranch will put forward a $600,000 purchase, $50,000 deposit and $100,000 in services over 10 years ($10,000 per year). Those services would include staff retreats, annual meetings, employee training and other events.
UCHRA will pay off its USDA Rural Development loan debt of $1,285,550 relating to Lakeside Resort by applying the $600,000 from Timothy Hill and borrowing from Bank of Putnam County $685,550.35 to be repaid in 4 years.
While UCHRA will still be in debt it will no longer lose as much money as it has in recent years because of Lakeside according Sotis.”We have negotiated with USDA Rural Development. There will be a balance of $685,000 that UCHRA will still owe against what they had borrowed twenty years ago but when you’re losing $200,000 a year for the last twenty years it really doesn’t do us any good to hold on. It would be better to hand it to somebody else. And they (Timothy Hill) are a non-profit so it’s really one non-profit helping another,” said Sotis.
Based in Long Island New York, Timothy Hill Ranch serves children and men from ages 10-24 who have been abused, neglected and/or are in crisis. Referrals come from the court system and private agencies.
According to Sotis, Timothy Hill plans to continue operating the facility as a resort while serving youth. “Lakeside needs a vision and it’s a great vision that Timothy Hill is going to have. Timothy Hill are good Christian people and it will be a real blessing to DeKalb County. They will operate the resort as it is. They will do almost no changes on plan of action business plans for the first year but I believe in the years to follow you will have more Christian retreats, parental retreats and that kind of thing. Their marketing department will push toward helping families and marriages and things like that. That’s what they concentrate on. They’re pretty big. They’ve been doing this for 40 years. They are also looking to put $3 million in the property in the next five years with a new dock, possibly a beach, and other renovations,” he said.
Guest cottages and apartments are maintained on the property including thirteen cabins or houses, four condominiums, along with the lakeside lodge, featuring 26 units. The resort also has a dock and a swimming pool.
According to Sotis the ten current employees of Lakeside will be permitted to remain on staff.
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