MANSFIELD, Ohio – Less than a month after closing its doors for good, Clear Fork Resort has been sold in three parcels on Friday at the Richland County Sheriff’s Sale.
The entire resort property went for a total of $706,000 split into in three separate parcels at the sheriff’s sale public auction. The parcels were split into 16.45 acres of unused land, 110 acres of land encompassing the resort, and a single-family home on the property.
All bids at the Sheriff’s Sale begin at two-thirds of the appraised value of the property. The single-family home was appraised at $180,000 and after a few rounds of bidding was sold at $140,000 to Resorts Incorporated – the same company that founded Clear Fork Resort in 1963. Joe Humphrey, president of Resorts Incorporated, purchased the parcel on behalf of the company, noting Resorts Incorporated sold the Clear Fork Resort property to Slater Run Land Development LLC in 2011 after a six-year hiatus.
“They made a down payment but never followed through with any other payments,” said Humphrey. He added the single-family home currently has a tenant who will continue to pay rent and live there.
The failure to follow through is the reason why Clear Fork Resort landed in the Sheriff’s Sale. In 2013, a “formal purchase” was made to fulfill Slater Run Land Development’s obligation to Resorts Incorporated, with funding assistance from Cache Private Capital Diversified Fund LLC. But on June 9, 2014, Cache filed a foreclosure suit and named Slater Run Land Development, Resorts Incorporated, the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services and the Richland County Treasurer as defendants.
In the suit, Cache claims that more than $2.45 million was due from Slater Run Land Development in full on Jan. 25, 2014. Cache also filed a separate lawsuit May 23 against the seven individual owners of the resort property, claiming they had signed a guarantee agreement for the loan.
Clear Fork Resort officially closed its doors on May 14.
Cache earned part of its property back at Friday’s sheriff’s sale by purchasing the 110 acres of land housing Clear Fork Resort for $536,000. The property was initially appraised at $804,000. Eric Miller, attorney for Cache Private Capital Diversified Fund, was the bidder on behalf of the company on Friday.
“What I said to [my client] was, ‘The ski resort is shut down, they owe you almost $3 million, and you’re going to end up buying this land,’ and they said we know,” said Miller.
Miller was also bidding Friday in a personal capacity as a trustee of the North Central Ohio Land Conservancy. Miller purchased the third parcel of the Clear Fork Resort sale, the 16.45 acres of unused land, for $30,000. The land was initially appraised at $45,000.
The North Central Ohio Land Conservancy has plans to create two public hiking trails within the Clear Fork Resort property.
Note: This is the first in a three-part story describing the future outlook for the resort properties.
