Development goes on at Valley of Lakes

The development of the Valley of the Lakes resort along Route 924 south of Hazleton is continuing as the firm is being restructured.

CBG Limited, a Pennsylvania limited partnership that is developing the resort, has restructured. All of the shares formerly held by Robert W. Ellis of Glen Mills, Pa., have been purchased by the partnership, which is now partly comprised of a major Italian corporation known as Silec SPA, of Torino, Italy.

The new organization includes John Federico of Philadelphia, a builder, developer and business consultant who will serve as a representative of Silec and a co-general partner with Frank Cedrone of Marlton, N.J., who is CBG's original general partner.

A year ago, the firm took control of the development, which had laid dormant for almost a decade. Since then, the firm has been making plans to develop the 4,000-acre site into a resort community.

The first signs of change are occurring at the Eagle Rock Lodge. Cedrone said the firm is undertaldng a $250,000 renovation project at the lodge, which was a popular night spot before closing in the late 1970s.

Cedrone said the lodge, complete with its facelift, will reopen sometime before the end of the year.

The facelift includes a new canopy at the entrance and a glass-enclosed greenhouse that will be built on the side facing the ski slopes.

A portion of the large rock inside the lodge will be chipped away, to expand the bandstand area. Waterfalls in the rock will be reinstalled, he said.

Other changes include the interior lighting and a complete new air conditioning and heating system.

The lodge will have a "firstclass kitchen facility" that will be part of a dining-entertainmetit facility.

Although the lodge will reopen this year, the ski slopes will not be open until next winter, Cedrone said.

The skiing facility, which Cedrone said will be expanded from seven slopes to 22 slopes, is now being designed. He said CBG is designing the facility while a search is underway for a "highquality operator" for the ski slopes.

"It will be the largest ski lift in Pennsylvania when we're finished," Cedrone said. "It will have one of, if not the longest, continuous downhill runs."

Over the winter, Cedrone said engineering work will be done to map out water and sewer lines for the entire development.

Currently, Cedrone said the development has a 50,000-gaUon per day sewage treatment plant. He said plans are to eventually expand that plant to 1 million gallons per day. That will be done in 125,000-gallon increments.

"We are looking at the cost benefit ratio for putting in the superstructure for 500,000 gallons or 1 million gallons, and then adding the mechanical hardware for each 125,000-gallon increment."

Meanwhile, Cedrone said the water system will be undergoing its first major expansion.

The development is currently served by one 10,000-gallon well. The development also owns and operates a 20,000 well that serves the village of Oneida.

Cedrone said the 10,000-gallon well will be expanded to 30,000 gallons, another well to yield 50,000 gallons per day will be drilled, and fire hydrants will also be added.

Other long-range plans for the development, Cedrone said, include single- and multi-family housing development, the development of commercial, professional and visitor facilities, a golf course and an 85-acre lake with a 1,500-foot-long dam.

The golf course, for which grading work is already 65 percent complete, will initially be a nine-hole course. "It has excellent potential to be a top-rated course," Cedrone said, based on the course's design.

Eight new homes have been built, and ten more are planned, to add to the 58 homes that were built before CBG took over.

Cedrone said the firm is working on putting together an array of designs for homes in the development, ranging in price from under $100,000 to $200,000.

Cedrone said the entire development, when completed, will have 6,000 housing units, based on 1.5 acres per unit.