alleymon Commercial development surges
Developers have plans for two major projects on the lake front.
Orange County developer Marina Developers Inc. recently announced plans to build a boat mall, 300-slip marina, retail center and 600 townhouses just north of the outlet channel, across from The Diamond baseball stadium. WatersEdge Lake Elsinore should be up and running by the second half of 2006, a company official has said.
In January, the City Council approved a 40-year lease with Destination RV Resorts to operate the city-owned Lake Elsinore Recreation Area and Campgrounds at the north end of the lake. The deal calls for Destination to make $17 million in investments to the campground over the next three years.
An official with a company that is partners in the operation said last week that the company plans on turning the park into a “five-star” destination resort. It will include a marina, swimming pools, saunas, up to 20 vacation rental homes and 350 sites for recreational vehicles, he said.
Stabilizing lake levels
A major factor in the surge in commercial real estate projects and spiking land prices has been the prospect of finally being able to stabilize the lake level, according to some investors and real estate experts.
The whims of Mother Nature have seen that body of water, now known as Lake Elsinore, dry up during periods of extended drought, most recently in the 1960s.
City officials and business leaders have long said that only by stabilizing the lake level and keeping the lake full would Lake Elsinore ever realize its full potential for lakefront development.
It’s a matter of debate whether the goal of keeping the lake full has finally been achieved following a decade of lake stabilization projects. Those include the completion of a levee at the south end of the lake in 1993, a 2-year old program to add recycled water and well water to the lake, and a 2003 agreement between the city and Elsinore Valley Municipal Water District to put $650,000 each into an escrow account for water purchases for the lake.
At the time of the deal, water district officials said they used historical data on fluctuating lake levels to determine how much it would cost to buy enough water to keep the lake full.
From Boating Industry
Tuesday February 1, 2005
LAKE ELSINORE, Calif. – An Orange County developer is working with the city of Lake Elsinore to get approvals for a plan to build a 300-slip marina and waterfront boat mall with multiple showrooms, the North County Times reported in a recent article.
The $300-million development, which would be called WatersEdge Lake Elsinore, also includes plans for a 125-room hotel, a restaurant row and 600 townhouses, some of which would be packaged with boat slips, the newspaper stated.
Dan Hamilton, the chief executive officer of Marina Developers Inc., told the newspaper that the retail center is scheduled to open in 2006. He expects boat sales to exceed $100,000 annually.
Already, the developer has signed a deal with boat retailer Newport Boats, which plans to anchor the center with a 5,000- to 7,000-square foot showroom and 30,000 square feet of outside display space, according to the newspaper.
Newport Boats CEO Sid Partow said he was attracted to the opportunity by the ability it would give his business to provide test drives.