A group of investors led by Jim Drescher, the former owner of Glendale-based JDTV Inc., has reached an agreement to purchase the 281-room Lake Lawn Resort in Delavan from a consortium of 13 banks led by Madison-based AnchorBank for $9.5 million.
The investors will pay $8.6 million in cash and will assume a $900,000 lien from the city of Delavan.
AnchorBank acquired the resort last year in a sheriff’s foreclosure sale for about $20 million. The resort was in default on a $51.9 million loan and owed AnchorBank $31.34 million.
The bank closed the resort in December, eliminating 300 full- and part-time workers.
Drescher, who runs a non-profit food pantry in Walworth County, said he saw many of the former resort employees at the food pantry. Drescher said he and the other investors who purchased the resort did so to put people back to work.
“My goal was to get the jobs back,” he said.
The resort needs about $2 million in repair work to get it back in the condition it was prior to closing, Drescher said.
The sale of the property is expected to close in mid-April. The new owners hope to open the golf course and marina by mid-May and the rest of the resort by mid-June, Drescher said.
The new owners have a $3.6 million cash reserve, including $1.2 million for needed repairs and $2.4 million to absorb operating losses as the business gets started back up, he said.
