Quest for lodge at Burnside park hits a deadend

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February 20, 2013

Quest for lodge at Burnside park hits a deadend

Lake Cumberland’s rising but no interest being shown

by Bill Mardis Commonwealth Journal The Commonwealth Journal Wed Feb 20, 2013, 12:12 AM EST

Burnside —

This is a “YES, we have NO bananas” story.

Remember the publicity four or five years ago about a lodge on General Burnside Island State Park?

There were interviews with the Webb Brothers, Donald and Dudley, of Lexington. They have had a long-standing interest in building and operating a lodge on General Burnside Island.

Also, there are Mike Czerwonka of Louisviille and Bennett Rosser International architects; Doug McGarrity of McGarrity & Company in Atlanta, operator of 75 Ritz Carlton hotels; and Delaware North Companies, Buffalo, N.Y., operator of resorts around the world. They wanted to build a true 4-star resort conference hotel on the island.

The Kentucky Department of Parks at that time issued several Requests for Proposals from private investors to build and operate a lodge. The Webb Brothers and Czerwonka responded each time but their proposals reportedly were not compliant. The Webbs wanted it to happen so badly they said it was OK by them if Czerwonka built the lodge; just so it was built.

The Department of Parks wanted a lodge with at least 50 rooms, a swimming pool, gift shop and other features found at state resort parks. The lodge would have been located on a “peak” on the northern point of the island overlooking Lake Cumberland and Burnside Marina. That was before Lake Cumberland was lowered to repair Wolf Creek Dam.

Since the dam is almost repaired and the lake is about to rise, The Commonwealth Journal thought it would be a good time to broach the subject again; maybe jog memories at what is now Kentucky Tourism, Arts and Heritage Cabinet.

We asked Gil Lawson, long-time spokesman for the Cabinet if a lodge at General Burnside Island State Park is still on the drawing board.

“There has been no discussion about it,” said Lawson. “The way our budget situation is, it would not allow us to consider such a project.”

And so it goes. The lodge idea is dead. As aforesaid, “YES, we have NO bananas.”

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