Clearwater Lodge owners have asked the Cook County Revolving Loan Fund Committee to forgive most of the $54,871.18 they owe to the county, but they won’t benefit much from the favor.
On Tuesday, November 16, 2010, County Auditor-Treasurer Braidy Powers told the county board that the sale of the lodge is pending, but at a price too low to fully satisfy either the bank’s first mortgage or the county’s second mortgage. A bank is already in charge of the lodge’s finances related to the sale of the property, Powers said, and it suggested that the current owners ask the county to accept $10,000 to satisfy the loan.
Like many tourist-dependent businesses in Cook County, Clearwater Lodge has fallen on hard times. “If they lost the place, of course we wouldn’t get anything,” Powers said.
The Revolving Loan Committee didn’t take Clearwater Lodge up on the offer of $10,000, but it was willing to accept $27,500 about half what is due. Thelodge owners need the county’s satisfaction of the loan in order for the sale to go through. If the sale doesn’t go through, Powers said, the lodge might not be open next summer.
“I’m surprised that we haven’t seen more of these,” Powers said.
Commissioner Jim Johnson said he believes that if Clearwater Lodge has a buyer, the county has an obligation to forgive the loan.
The board unanimously passed a motion to satisfy the loan with a payment of $27,500, an amount that Powers thought would be acceptable to the bank involved in the sale.
Clearwater Lodge has been owned by Lynn Pauloski and Mike and Peggy Trace since 2003.
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