Dubuque’s Grand Harbor Resort Finds Buyer at Auction

Following years of financial struggle and a court-ordered sale, the Grand Harbor Resort and Waterpark in Dubuque has found a buyer after being up for auction.

As reported by the Telegraph Herald, the attraction was listed at a starting price of $7.5 million, and was purchased for for exactly one dollar over the listed bid by a South Dakota-based company that operates as a jewelry corporation.

The buyer was Riddle's Group of Rapid City, SD. CEO Brett Riddle told the Telegraph Herald that the company's management is much more stable than the locally owned Platinum Holdings, whose mortgage on the property was foreclosed by the Texas-based company Westdale:

I'm surprised that it didn't have a [franchise] all these years. Usually you can't get financing to have a property like this without one [....] Our goal as a company is to put money back into these projects and just make them a pretty exciting place to be [....] The difference with us is we're going to put money back into it rather than, probably, taking money out of it [....] We live off our other businesses - Riddle's Group CEO Brett Riddle, per Telegraph Herald

On top of securing a franchise, Riddle wants to renovate the property, including updates to all the rooms and water features over the next couple years in preparation for a grand reopening. The goal is to complete this makeover while continuing operating normally.

It sounds like the aspiration to significantly update the Grand Harbor Resort is there with its new buyer, who acquired the space for a grand total of $7,500,001. Read more on the Telegraph Herald's website.