BOOM TIMES AT CASTLE ROCK LAKE
Published August 3rd, 2005
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With two major condominium developments under way and some waterfront single-family home sites selling for more than $400,000, Castle Rock Lake has been called the Gold Coast or the next Lake Geneva.
Although it’s unlikely that the lake will become an upriver Wisconsin Dells, Germantown Town Chairman Bob Miller said the developments are controversial with the town’s 1,400 permanent residents.
“The older people who came here naturally would rather see it stay the way it was,” said Miller, a former Mauston High School football coach and Juneau County Board member. “But there are a lot of people who like development because they make money off it. We must have 20 lawn crews around here.”
Castle Rock Lake, the state’s fourth largest lake with 16,640 acres, actually is a flowage created in 1950 when the Wisconsin River was dammed for a hydroelectric plant. The Wisconsin River Power Co. owned much of the land, so development didn’t occur until the power company decided to sell the land, which happened only occasionally until several years ago.
Lake Pettenwell, another large flowage not far up the river, is experiencing similar development pressure. Last month, a local planning committee approved zoning changes for three subdivisions and up to 50 homes on the east side of that lake.
Developments planned for Castle Rock Lake include:
* Northern Bay Golf Resort & Marina, a $150 million resort and vacation condominium development on the lake’s northeastern shore in Adams County. The development will feature 312 cedar and fieldstone vacation condominiums, a 140-unit condo-hotel, golf course, marina, indoor water park and conference center. The developer is Northern Bay LLC, a joint venture of David Kennedy, Paul Gilbertson and Bill Ranguette of the GilRan Group and three brothers, Frank, Nick and Matt Mootz of Arkdale.
* Castle Rock Lake Condominium Homes, a 188-unit development on the lake’s southwestern shore. Three-bedroom condominiums will be either two-story townhouses or one-story garden models ranging in price from $250,000 to $490,000. The development includes a clubhouse, restaurant, pool, play area and 98 boat slips, which may be upgraded to 152 slips. Owners are Greg Rice and Paul Beall, and the developer is Executive Management of Madison.
* Glacier Point and Hidden Valley are two of several single-family subdivisions developed by Brad and Patrick Pavloski of Nekoosa. Waterfront lots at Hidden Bay range in price from $175,000 to $425,000.
The developments appear popular. All but about 20 of the vacation condominiums at Northern Bay, ranging from $330,000 to $619,900, have been sold, and 80 have been completed. Of seven units built in the first phase of Castle Rock Lake Condominium Homes, two have been sold and two offers are pending.
Three homes have been built in the Pavloskis’ High Ridge development, which eventually will include 50 homes. Eight waterfront lots have been sold at Glacier Point, where 25 lots are planned, and a dozen lots were sold in the first phase of Copper Point. Most of the lots are 2 to 5 acres.
The Pavloskis, both former UW-Madison football players, bought their land when the Wisconsin River Power Co. decided to divest its land holdings several years ago. The brothers also operate a Japanese long distance telephone resale company.
Despite the popularity of waterfront property, Patrick Pavloski said it’s not easy to close a sale.
“When it comes to waterfront property, you have a lot of tire kickers,” he said.
Until 2000, Wisconsin River Power Co., which manages the hydroelectric plant at Castle Rock Lake, was owned by Alliant Energy, Consolidated Papers and Wisconsin Public Service Corp.
When Stora Enso, a Finnish and Swedish forest industry company, acquired Consolidated Papers of Wisconsin Rapids that year, it created a legal problem due to prohibitions against foreign ownership of power companies. As part of the effort to resolve the problem, all of the power company land around the lake not needed for the hydroelectric plant was sold, most of it to the Pavloskis.
Pat Connors of Castle Rock Realty, who’s developing his own subdivision with local attorney Dan Berkos, said Castle Rock Lake has never experienced the Wisconsin Dells kind of tourism draw.
“People never thought of Castle Rock Lake,” he said. “Now, it’s really taken off and done well. The pricing always has been a little less, but in the past couple of years it’s gone up quite a bit.”
Connors said Castle Rock Lake never will be ringed with homes and condominiums because much of the land still is owned by the power company, and other land is preserved as part of Buckhorn State Park and Castle Rock County Park.
“There are a few more people here, but still it’s such a large body of water,” he said.
Miller said the Town Board hasn’t been a rubber stamp for development. The town enforces its zoning ordinance and requires connections to municipal sewer lines. Developers are assessed impact fees of $1,600 per lot, and the town has not permitted clusters of tiny waterfront lots.
“We know the land is going to be developed,” he said. “We would like to see less development.”
\ Contact reporter Marv Balousek at mbalousek@madison.com or 252-6135.