David Ashcraft, founder of Research Computer Services in Dayton in 1983, heads Caesar Creek Properties, the group that acquired the land from Peter Carroll, founder of the festival, held for the past 25 years on a 30-acre recreated 16th Century English village.
Carroll had planned to turn most of the property, currently zoned for farming, into a mixed-use development, including more than 200 homes and a commercial strip along Ohio 73.
Last week, Ashcraft said the new owners were developing a plan.
“We’re currently looking at all of our options,” he said.
Caesar Creek Properties’ holdings hug up against the lake shore east of Harveysburg, a small village near the Warren-Clinton county line.
But plans to capitalize on the proximity to the 2,830-acre lake are limited by regulations barring development along the lake, Ashcraft said.
“At this point, it’s focused on homes. That’s the only thing the Village of Harveysburg has ever approved,”Ashcraft said. “The state won’t allow any private building around a lake shore.”
End of an era
In the late 1980s, Carroll began assembling the various parcels comprising the acreage, purchased by Ashcraft’s group on May 14, for $3 million, according to Warren County property records.
A former champion racing sailor, Carroll built the Georgia Renaissance Festival on 180 acres outside Atlanta before turning the Ohio festival into a regional draw that he said has attracted 4 million people over the past quarter century.
Carroll could not be reached for comment.
“Last week he turned 88. He thought it was time to retire,” Harveysburg Mayor Dick Verga said last week.
Marina, development coming
Caesar Creek Lake is a federal flood-control reservoir leased by the state of Ohio and operated as a park.
The development site is in Harveysburg, a small village east of the bridge carrying Ohio 73 over the lake.
The first $8.8 million phase of the marina, across the lake from the village and and Caesar Creek Properties holdings, is expected to be open for the 2016 boating season.
Carroll and his son have begun development of the housing development. A 28-lot first phase, south of the lake shore, is ready for housing construction. Ultimately the 165-acre development is to include 222 homes.
“The first construction will begin momentarily, some time soon,” Verga said.
Expected to open sometime next year, the first phase of the marina is to include 120-150 boat slips, as well as floating seawalls and harbor facilities where boaters will be able to buy gas, bait, ice, refreshments and other boating items.
Plans calls for 400 slips and other amenities, including a fishing pond, to be built in two phases.
“That’s going to draw a lot of interest to this area,” Verga said.
The state is looking for a private operator for the marina.
New owners
Ashcraft sold his company, which specialized in transaction-processing systems for retail stores, to NCR under undisclosed terms in 2000.
Last week, he declined to identify the other members of the partnership comprising Caesar Creek Properties, incorporated on Dec. 17, 2014, according to Ohio Secretary of State records.
On June 17, the names Caesar Creek Estates, Caesar Creek Estates and Yacht Club and Park View Terrace were registered as trademarks with the state, according to state records.
Earlier this month, a mortgage was assigned from a trust set up by Carrroll to Caesar Creek Properties for a $300,000 down payment and a $2.7 million promissory note, according to county records. In exchange, Caesar Creek Properties took ownershp of about 263 acres in Harveysburg and adjoining Massie Twp., according to county records.
Verga said he had met Ashcraft, heading a three-person partnership comprising Caesar Creek Properties, but there had been no detailed discussions of any changes in plans for the land.
“At this stage, no,” Verga said. “They are talking about looking at the possibility of additional events.”
Carroll also talked of holding new events last year, as work began on the roads and infrastructure underlying the first phase of Caesar Creek Estates.
The 26th annual Ohio Renaissance Festival season kicks off Sept. 5 and runs through Oct. 25.
“At the moment, the festival is there and will remain there. They have no plans to walk away from it. That’s their near-term moneymaker,” Verga said.
Ashcraft said he and his partners were considering what to do with the land and gaining a grasp on federal, state, county and village laws and regulations affecting its use.
“It takes a little time to get your arms around that,” he said.
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