The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
PARCELS DETERMINED FOR CAMP AUCTION
Announcement lists sections of Boy Scout Camp Stigwandish to be sold at May 30 auction
Anyone who desires to bid on parts or all of Boy Scout Camp Stigwandish at an upcoming auction now can plan their acquisition strategy.
An auction company has released descriptions of four sections of the nearly 300-acre property that will be offered for sale during a May 30 auction.
Kiko Realtors, Auctioneers and Advisors will conduct the auction, which starts at noon. The event is an absolute auction, during which Camp Stigwandish will be sold, either in sections or its entirety, to the highest bidder or bidders, regardless of price.
Bidding will take place at Camp Stigwandish, 7497 Ross Road in Madison Township, and simultaneously online, for those who want to participate from remote locations.
Auctioneers from Kiko will make that sure that all participants in the onsite bidding abide by social distancing guidelines set by the Ohio Department of Health. That promise
"We are confident in Kiko, which is why we chose to work through them for the divestment of the camp." — Marc Ryan
comes from Richard T. Kiko Jr., who is CEO, broker and auctioneer at the company which bears his last name.
The auction has been authorized by the Lake Erie Council of the Boy Scouts of America, which owns Camp Stigwandish. About three months ago, the council announced it would close the camp, based on a financial and operational assessment of its four properties in northern Ohio.
An auction listing on Kiko’s website describes the 281-acre Camp Stigwandish as a “one of a kind property” that could serve as “a family hideaway, hunter’s paradise or nature retreat.” In addition to offering three fishing lakes,
trails and a section of Mill Creek, Stigwandish features cabins, a large rustic dining hall with a 20foot tall stone fireplace, a boat storage building, a shop/storage building and a shooting range.
Kiko Realtors, Advisors and Auctioneers, which has offices in Canton and Dover, also identified and described the four parcels at Stigwandish that will be offered for sale at the auction:
• Parcel #1 — About 145.5 acres, all wooded. Main camp entrance, dining hall, parking lot and small cabins. Also contains a section of Mill Creek with land that’s protected through a conservation easement owned by the Lake County Soil and Water Conservation District and monitored by Lake Metroparks.
• Parcel #2 — 38.8 acres,
more than half wooded, with driveway, stocked lake, boat storage and shop/storage buildings, small cabins, shower house, timber and trails.
• Parcel #3 — 97 acres, mostly wooded, two large stocked lakes, small cabins, a shooting range, trails, hardwoods and timber.
• Parcel #4 — ¾ of an acre with a vinyl-sided 1.5-story, three-bedroom, one-bath home with a three-car detached garage.
Prospective bidders who want to view the parcels prior to the auction are invited to an open house that Kiko is sponsoring at Camp Stigwandish from 1 to 3 p.m. May 23.
“Bring your hiking boots or get a ride on one of our ATVs,” Kiko stated in the auction listing.
The 90-year-old Camp Stigwandish is one of four
northern Ohio properties owned by the Lake Erie Council of the Boy Scouts of America that were scrutinized in an independent assessment last year.
In addition to Stigwandish, the other sites reviewed were Beaumont Scout Reservation in Morgan Township in Ashtabula County; Firelands Scout Reservation in Wakeman Village in Huron County; and the Lake Erie Council Boy Scouts of America Unit Service Center in Cleveland.
This assessment was conducted to evaluate the strengths and weakness of all four properties, focusing on occupancy, usage, building conditions, programs and financial sustainability, Lake Erie Council Scout Executive/ CEO Marc Ryan stated in his Facebook message.
One of the conclusions
reached by the assessment team is that two of the three camps — Stigwandish and Firelands — have operated at a deficit in recent years.
Combined losses for the camps ranged from a high of $235,000 in 2017, and then improved to a shortfall of $150,000 in 2019.
“These operating losses do not include the significant capital investments made at all three camps since the Lake Erie Council came into existence (in January 2017),” the council stated.
In addition, the assessment showed that although Firelands has been operating at a financial loss for several years, significant progress has been made at lowering the camp’s deficit.
The study also showed Stigwandish had the lowest camper-occupancy rate of all three camps for 2017, 2018
and the first half of 2019.
“While Stigwandish is a beautiful property and holds a special place in the hearts of many who have camped there for years, it is no longer sustainable to operate and keep the camp,” Ryan said.
In a News-Herald story last month, Ryan predicted that the May 30 auction of Camp Stigwandish will yield successful results.
“We are confident in Kiko, which is why we chose to work through them for the divestment of the camp,” Ryan said.
Proceeds from the sale of Camp Stigwandish will be earmarked for program improvements, including ones at the Lake Erie council’s remaining properties, or other significant ventures as approved by the organization’s executive board of directors, Ryan said.