By Chris Shunk
Posted Aug 20th 2010 6:31PM
Are you looking for 1,000 heavily forested acres in the heart of Northern Michigan? Something in the $33 million range with a world class golf course and sleeping quarters for a couple thousand? If you are, it appears that the United Auto Workers' Black Lake resort is going to have to come off that (very) short list, because the Rank and File isn't selling. The Detroit News reports that UAW chief Bob King and the new union board has taken the resort off the market. CB Richard Ellis Senior Real Estate VP John Carver called the decision "a matter of the new board reviewing previous policy decisions."
That previous board said in January that the recession was a big reason that the facility needed to close. The fact that the resort has lost a reported $23 million since 2005 didn't help much either, and declining union membership appeared to be the nail in the coffin. Guess not. UAW leadership apparently isn't talking about Black Lake and why they took it off the market, but DetNews quotes UAW local leaders who say that events are still being scheduled there.
We're sure there will be plenty of people out there who won't like the decision to retain such an extravagant resort considering the fact that thousands of UAW members have lost their jobs in the past couple of years. But then again, with Bob King and his blue-collared brothers and sisters looking to make a comeback, selling off the UAW's crown jewels probably wouldn't serve to bring up morale.
[Source: Detroit News]
