Oakwood Buyer Introduced to Syracuse Council
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By Jordan Fouts-
“I don’t really have big plans besides bringing it back to where it was, and we'll see what happens from there,” Parent said Tuesday during the Syracuse Town Council meeting. He was introduced by the court-appointed receiver for the property, Ian Rolland, with whom he is negotiating purchase.
A patient of Parent’s, Rolland said he trusts him with his eyes as well as the park, where he spent his honeymoon. Parent also has family history on Lake Wawasee where the park sits.
“I think they represent a very excellent buyer,” Rolland said earlier Tuesday of Parent and his sons, J.R. and Jason, who operate retirement homes and do leasing and landscaping. “They’ve been a pleasure to do business with so far. I have a lot of good feelings for the prospects for Oakwood.”
Rolland added that the fate of the property came up in conversation with Parent one day, though he didn’t remember who made the first move toward purchase.
For his part, Parent said that, lacking hotel experience, he had doubts until he met a retired college dean of hotel and restaurant management who agreed to consult for him while vacationing in Florida.
The sale is at a “pretty advanced stage,” according to Rolland, though a purchase agreement hasn’t yet been signed. He hopes to close on the deal by Sept. 1 or earlier, after court approval.
Parent plans to start cleaning the park and refurbishing the hotel in spring and may open next summer.
The eye surgeon said he is open to Chautauqua activities at the park, but vowed to run it more like a business than the Oakwood Foundation, its owner until two years ago.
“We’ll do what we have to to make it financially viable,” Parent said. “It’s not philanthropic, it has to make money. That’s what it was, philanthropic, and it failed.”
Rolland remarked during the meeting that he was starting to wonder if Oakwood would ever get a buyer after Buckingham Properties backed out of the deal in April, one year after Kosciusko County Judge Duane Huffer approved the sale.
“When we started this project two years ago, I thought it would only take two or three months to get it done,” Rolland told the council. “It’s taken a little longer than that.”
Parent was one of several bidders for the property, Rolland said. He declined to discuss the price for Oakwood, though Buckingham had offered $3.7 million and pledged $5.7 million more in renovations.
Besides the removal of a ban on alcohol, set by longtime owner the Indiana Conference of the United Methodist Church, the withdrawal of an appeal by the Wawasee Area Conservancy Foundation should also mean smoother sailing for the deal.
WACF withdrew its objection over proposed pier installation in the lake in front of the park after a discussion with Rolland at its board meeting Saturday. Heather Harwood, WACF executive director, said the foundation is happy with the settlement, though neither she nor Rolland could comment on the details.
“We are very happy to be resolving the issue and that Oakwood can be revitalized,” she said Tuesday afternoon. “That was our goal; we’re just happy to be through it. We protected the lake as much as we could.”[[In-content Ad]]
“I don’t really have big plans besides bringing it back to where it was, and we'll see what happens from there,” Parent said Tuesday during the Syracuse Town Council meeting. He was introduced by the court-appointed receiver for the property, Ian Rolland, with whom he is negotiating purchase.
A patient of Parent’s, Rolland said he trusts him with his eyes as well as the park, where he spent his honeymoon. Parent also has family history on Lake Wawasee where the park sits.
“I think they represent a very excellent buyer,” Rolland said earlier Tuesday of Parent and his sons, J.R. and Jason, who operate retirement homes and do leasing and landscaping. “They’ve been a pleasure to do business with so far. I have a lot of good feelings for the prospects for Oakwood.”
Rolland added that the fate of the property came up in conversation with Parent one day, though he didn’t remember who made the first move toward purchase.
For his part, Parent said that, lacking hotel experience, he had doubts until he met a retired college dean of hotel and restaurant management who agreed to consult for him while vacationing in Florida.
The sale is at a “pretty advanced stage,” according to Rolland, though a purchase agreement hasn’t yet been signed. He hopes to close on the deal by Sept. 1 or earlier, after court approval.
Parent plans to start cleaning the park and refurbishing the hotel in spring and may open next summer.
The eye surgeon said he is open to Chautauqua activities at the park, but vowed to run it more like a business than the Oakwood Foundation, its owner until two years ago.
“We’ll do what we have to to make it financially viable,” Parent said. “It’s not philanthropic, it has to make money. That’s what it was, philanthropic, and it failed.”
Rolland remarked during the meeting that he was starting to wonder if Oakwood would ever get a buyer after Buckingham Properties backed out of the deal in April, one year after Kosciusko County Judge Duane Huffer approved the sale.
“When we started this project two years ago, I thought it would only take two or three months to get it done,” Rolland told the council. “It’s taken a little longer than that.”
Parent was one of several bidders for the property, Rolland said. He declined to discuss the price for Oakwood, though Buckingham had offered $3.7 million and pledged $5.7 million more in renovations.
Besides the removal of a ban on alcohol, set by longtime owner the Indiana Conference of the United Methodist Church, the withdrawal of an appeal by the Wawasee Area Conservancy Foundation should also mean smoother sailing for the deal.
WACF withdrew its objection over proposed pier installation in the lake in front of the park after a discussion with Rolland at its board meeting Saturday. Heather Harwood, WACF executive director, said the foundation is happy with the settlement, though neither she nor Rolland could comment on the details.
“We are very happy to be resolving the issue and that Oakwood can be revitalized,” she said Tuesday afternoon. “That was our goal; we’re just happy to be through it. We protected the lake as much as we could.”[[In-content Ad]]
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