By Jim Hayden
The sale of the 130-acre Presbyterian Camps property in Saugatuck was completed on Friday, formally ending a 115-year-old camping tradition along the lakeshore.
The land was purchased for $10 million by developer David Barker and Dune Ridge SA, LP, who plan to put homes on the property. At the closing, the Presbytery was to receive $9 million, with another $1 million due no later than 18 months after the closing, according to a church statement.
The Presbytery announced in 2009 that it planned to sell the camp to help cover debts, many linked to $11 million in loans to settle sex abuse claims from the 1990s.
“There is certainly relief that the burden of debt has been lifted. However, in the loss of the camp there is sadness for all of us and a deep heartache for many of us,” the church wrote in a statement on its web page. “We pray that the spirit of the living God will be at work in ways we can neither imagine nor anticipate to bring the grace and peace of which we are all in need.”
Read more at http://www.hollandsentinel.com/article/20140218/NEWS/140219117/10983/NEWSThe Presbytery has access to the land until April 30.