Laughlin Bay Marina to be sold

The unfinished Laughlin Bay Marina will be sold in a sealed-bid auction May 22, with the minimum bid set at $5.5 million.

The full-service marina on the Colorado River was built at a cost of more than $34 million and includes a completed clubhouse with a pool, restaurant and retail space, 20,000-square-foot dry boat storage and up to 158 boat slips.

The 20-acre parcel at Marina Lagoon Drive is zoned for mixed-use development with potential for 150 to 300 residential units. The pads have already been graded.

The original developers, CRM Colorado River Marina, bought the property in 2001, but couldn't get permits for residential development, said Todd Good, chief executive officer of Newport Beach, Calif.-based Accelerated Marketing Group, which is handling the auction.

"They missed the hot market years because of permitting," he said.

CRM began marina construction in 2003, unveiling plans for the largest nongaming development in Laughlin in more than a decade. The first phase of the townhome community was expected to be completed in 2005.

"This is the best site on the Colorado River," CRM manager Sam Wacht said then. "We're right between two golf courses, the Emerald River and Avi, and between two casinos, Harrah's and the Avi."

With 1,250 feet of frontage on a lagoon that opens to the Colorado River, Laughlin Bay Marina would provide an alternative location for boaters to launch their watercraft, Wacht said.

Good said developers invested
$20 million of their own money and took out $14 million in financing to build the clubhouse, restaurant and bar. Initial construction consisted of a breakwater for boat ramps, courtesy docks, boat slips and a lighted boardwalk.

When the developers couldn't get residential permitting, they gave it back to Mojave State Bank, he said.

The marina is operational and current on taxes, but has been closed since 2009. An onsite inspection date is set for 2 p.m. May 15.

Sealed bids will be opened by a third party with witnesses at Lawyers Title in Newport Beach, Calif. The bank will take the highest conforming bid with proof of financial ability, and escrow must be closed in 30 days. A $25,000 credit will be refunded if the sale closes in less than 10 days, Good said.

"Whoever's the buyer on this, is going to get an absolute steal," he said.

Laughlin is going to a public referendum for incorporation in June, and that might change the permitting process, Good said. There's also talk about a Chinese-backed solar farm on 9,000 acres south of Laughlin that could spur demand for residential development, he said.

Contact reporter Hubble Smith at
hsmith@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0491.