By JENNIFER HUFFMAN | Posted: Monday, November 7, 2011 12:00 am Napa Valley Register
For decades, campers and boaters have passed the small commercial strip on their way to and from Lake Berryessa. Many visitors know of the intersection of Highways 121 and 128 as Moskowite Corners, or simply “The Corners.”
Over the years, the parcel, which is home to a market, restaurant and bar, has passed from owner to owner. Now it’s for sale again. The property was recently listed for sale for $1.29 million by owner Jim Keller.
Keller bought the property, which had been in bankruptcy, for $1.1 million in 2008. At the time, he intended to fix it up. “The idea was to rename and rebrand it,” he said.
Over the past several years, Keller spent more than $400,000 on improvements, including a bar addition, new deck, equipment, electrical and plumbing work.
“When I bought it I spent $25,000 to $40,000 just in cleanup,” he said. “It was quite an undertaking up there.”
He renamed the junction “The Crossroads at Berryessa” and found a new tenant for the property. In August 2010, Jim Winchell and his family took over the market, restaurant and bar.
Keller, who lives in Napa, said he originally had a five-year plan for the property, but another opportunity has come up and he’d like to sell.
From talking to his tenant, business at the corner is good, Keller said. “Since I’ve owned it, business has substantially increased,” he said.
Pensus Group, the new manager of concessions at Lake Berryessa, “is committed to putting (money) into the lake. Once construction starts, I think things will be even better,” he said.
Pensus first stepped onto the scene at Lake Berryessa following a 2006 decision by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to return privately operated lakeside resorts to a more natural state.
The reboot caused scores of private trailers posted along the lake’s shore to be uprooted and saw five resorts rebranded by the Arizona-based company. Pensus opened many of the new resorts with limited services during the 2011 summer season and expects full services to become operational in subsequent years.
An investor with a five- to 10-year game plan would make a good buyer for the property, Keller said. “Someone who wants to hold a landmark piece and let it ride,” he said.
“I have mixed emotions about it being listed in this climate,” business operator Jim Winchell said. “I don’t see it going real fast. But our lease is in place,” and he hopes the new owner will honor that, he said.
Winchell, his wife, and his two sons run the business. Winchell lives in Fairfield and drives over the hill daily, he said. His two sons, Shawn and Jim Jr., live across the street from the market, he said.
Winchell said his business is slowly growing. “It’s taken a year to get us where we are,” he said, but “we see new customers every week.”
Would he like to buy the property? “I’m not in the financial position right now to make an offer,” Winchell said. “Maybe one of the resorts, or Pensus” should buy it, he said.
Marty Rodden, owner of Lake Berryessa Boat and Jet Ski rental, advertises his nearby business on a sign at the Corners.
“That’s the best spot to have a business, because anywhere you’re going on this lake you have to pass it,” he said. Rodden said he once considered leasing the market and bar, “but I looked at what the previous owner made, and it didn’t look good.”
This is a tough time to try and sell, Rodden said. After the Bureau of Reclamation took over resort operations, many longtime residents were forced out of the area, he noted.
“I don’t see the lake turning around for about five to eight years,” he said. However, “after that, I think it will be a thriving place.”
“The ideal buyer is someone who really believes in what Berryessa is going to become, and sees the potential,” Michael Holcomb of Strong & Hayden, one of the listing agents for the property, said.
“Pensus has made a major commitment to the area that should bring a lot of local and out-of-town visitors,” Holcomb said.
