WHITTINGTON (WSIL) -- Once a popular destination drawing people from St. Louis and Chicago for weekend get aways on the water Rend Lake Resort has sat empty for almost four years.
If you were to walk around the grounds today, you'll see overgrown weeds, cattails growing out of the pool, rooms without flooring, or even drywall.
"It's sad. It's really sad," said fisherman Pat Harris as he stood on the docks across the cove from the former Windows Restaurant.
"I loved the restaurant", explained Harris, "Get up about daybreak, go out and catch some fish. About nine, go into the restaurant and have breakfast."
The resort has been shuttered since December 2016 when the state terminated a lease agreement with the previous concessionaire, John Reilly. Mold was discovered in many of the buildings and Reilly was behind in bills totalling in the tens of thousands.
Since the closure, records News 3 obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request show the state has spent more than $1 million cleaning up the mold and tearing down one of the buildings that was structurally unsound.
"They spent about $1.2 million taking the mold out of each one of the buildings that were identified," said state representative Dave Severin (R-Benton) "One of the boatels was such a disrepair, they actually took down. There were two boatels, now there's one boatel."
The expenses continue to grow for basic upkeep like electric, gas, heating and cooling maintenance, pest control, and more.
As the days and years go by, the vacant resort draws similarities to Eagle Creek on Lake Shelbyville. Much like Rend Lake, it too was an IDNR resort that was closed for mold back in 2009. Sitting empty, a decade later, it was used as a training exercise for local fire departments and burned to the ground in 2019.
News 3 spoke with Colleen Callahan, the director of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, who was quick to point out differences between the two resorts. One main difference being that Eagle Creek was built and operated using private funds.
"The development of Rend Lake was originally undertaken by the department as a state project, and was a successful facility", explained Callahan. "Ultimately, it suffered from poor vendor management."
In the four years since the resort closed, there have been multiple failed attempts to find a new concessionaire to reopen it. The last attempt included $1.5 million in assistance, but not one bid was submitted.
"They saw all that they were going to have to put into it and what they would get out of it and it made no sense from a business standpoint at all," said Severin.
In speaking with Severin and Callahan, they offered some hope for those wanting to see the resort reopen. The state is moving forward with plans to take part of the project on itself, using money set aside by Illinois' Capital Improvement Board to bring the buildings back up to code.
"The state is actually going to put that money in. There's two to three million, possibly up to four million dollars that's set aside, it's been set aside for several years," explained Severin.
That renovation includes hiring engineers and architects, something that's near finalization. Once that happens, Severin hopes construction will begin in the spring.
"There are local business people, people who know how to run these types of facilities, that are interested," said Severin. "With all the challenges, they still see the opportunities are here."
As for a timetable for reopening, Callahan is optimist the project will get done this time and the resort reopened, but says challenges still lie ahead.
"We'll have to wait and see," she said. "With the uncertainty of COVID, uncertainty that always surrounds funding, we are confident that we are going to make progress this time."
In the meantime, folks like Pat Harris, can only look from afar and think back to what it once was.
"I'd like to see it back to its old glory," he explained. "It was something to be proud of."
Representative Severin told News 3 the engineer and architect should be approved sometime in November. The attempt to find someone new to run the resort will not begin until construction is complete. Once that wraps up, a new concessionaire will be put out to bid and the $1.5 million in assistance will remain in that attempt.
Stay with News 3 as we keep following the long saga of Rend Lake Resort.
Rend Lake Resort Expenses (Fiscal Year 2017)
Rend Lake Resort Expenses (Fiscal Year 2018)
Rend Lake Resort Expenses (Fiscal Year 2019)
Rend Lake Resort Expenses (Fiscal Year 2020 began July 1)
