LUXURIOUS LE BEAR RESORT A GIVEN ON LAKE STREET

By Jacob Wheeler
Sun editor
All eyes are on quaint Glen Arbor.
Two summers from now a gigantic, $40 million luxury resort including 14 fractional-ownership condominiums will occupy the pristine land by the boat ramp on Lake Street where Le Bear restaurant and a couple giant parking lots are today. Current restaurant owners Janet Niewold and Nancy Wright will sell the land to developer and Homestead resident Dominic Moceri, a partner in the Auburn Hills-based Moceri Cos., this fall barring any unexpected roadblocks.

Moceri is one of, if not the, biggest developers of luxury homes in Michigan. He will raze Le Bear restaurant to make room for what he calls his opportunity of a lifetime – an elegant, yet rustic three-story, timeshare resort on Lake Michigan modeled to fit the Grand Resort Lodge era. Fourteen residential units ranging in area from 2,200 to 2,700 square feet each will house wealthy patrons who will also have access to a recreational club both indoors and outdoors. A year-round pool including a jacuzzi and a heated deck will tempt vacationers outside even in the winter’s frigid months. Moceri will build an Olde English Conservatory gourmet restaurant on the Lake Street side of the building, capable of seating 30 and open to the general public.
“Glen Arbor will flourish because these units won’t be single ownership,” says Moceri, who has owned homes at The Homestead for 12 years and considers himself a local. “Le Bear Resort won’t mean just 14 new owners giving local business a lift. Fractional ownership means a constant flow of patrons to enjoy the four seasons and financially benefit Glen Arbor year-round.”
Local merchandise will accessorize the resort’s insides and Moceri plans to use whimsical art décor in every unit to make Le Bear Resort a part of the community. Around-the-clock concierge service will give residents the option of ordering pizza from Riverfront, or food from anywhere else in Glen Arbor, if the veil cutlet seems too succulent. Because making himself a part of the community and showing Glen Arbor that his intentions are sound are important to Moceri, who has four boys ranging from ages 5-13 with his wife Maria.
“This is a charming town where I know more people than I do downstate” Moceri told the Glen Arbor Sun from his luxury home at Manitou Shores, the private area just north of the Beach Club at The Homestead. “Here you don’t have to shave on the weekends.
“We’re sensitive to the community’s needs and desires, especially the environment. I have a home on Sleeping Bear Bay as well.”
GoslingCzubak, an engineering firm working with Moceri, made the following assessment of the current property behind Le Bear restaurant: “Though it does have a scattering of white pines, most of which will remain, the site consists mostly of gravel-surface parking lots, which are bisected by an unimproved private drive that serves the neighborhood to the east, plus a mound septic system located near the east property line. In its present state, this is a barren site that lacks sensitivity to the adjoining neighborhoods.”
Moceri’s acquisition and design plans passed through local government without any major hurdles as the Glen Arbor Township approved sight plans unanimously last December. Le Bear Resort will sit 94 feet from the high water mark, says Moceri, “far within all zoning regulations”.
But a large population of the Pitcher’s thistle – a plant species listed by the Department of Natural Resources as threatened both federally and in Michigan – that grows on the relevant property just north of the current Le Bear restaurant has forced Moceri to work with the DNR. The developer now has a permit to transplant them elsewhere on the property.
“We did agree after negotiations with him to reduce the size of his deck and move some Pitcher’s thistle,” said Pat Lederle, Endangered Species Program Coordinator at the DNR. “Moceri has agreed to transplant them in a protected area and do some educational stuff like making his patrons aware of the plant.
“The Pitcher’s thistle may actually be better off in this case, as there will be less disturbance in a protected area.”
Moceri, himself, called the Pitcher’s thistle a “non-issue”, and Lederle confirmed that Le Bear Resort has cleared any environmental related hurdles. The developer should be ready to break ground this winter, 18 months before he plans to open the resort on Memorial Day, 2004.
Questions of parking and sewage have some local residents worried that Le Bear Resort may have adverse effects on Lake Street, however.
Bob Jones, who tipped off Lederle at the DNR about the Pitcher’s thistle, is worried that the threatened plant may not survive in an area also occupied by more than a hundred part-time residents.
Becky Thatcher, who runs a thriving jewelry store – an integral part of the community — just down the street from what soon will be Moceri’s property, already sees the area filling up and questions whether Le Bear Resort will be able to handle the influx of people it will bring to its timeshared 14 condominiums. “I’m very concerned about parking,” she says. “It’s all taken up by boaters even now. I come to work on Saturday and there’s nowhere for my customers to park.”
Le Bear’s plan easily meets all Township zoning requirements. The site will provide 15 garage and 15 uncovered residential parking spaces and 12 restaurant spaces. That’s roughly two car spaces for every condominium – which promise to be full nearly all the time – and two vehicles for every five people dining at the restaurant (open for dinner only with the exception of Sunday brunch) when filled to capacity. Employees of the resort, as well as boaters and charter fishermen using the ramp on the lake, would have to park on Lake Street. Whether there is enough space for all these activities remains to be seen.
“The township needs to take a hard look at its zoning,” says Thatcher, the owner and proprietor of Becky Thatcher Designs for the last 20 years. “If we keep developing this town to the maximum, we will soon have problems. We need to consider a moratorium on full build-outs.”
Thatcher is also concerned about the well and septic system that Le Bear Resort will put in what is now the restaurant’s back parking lot, just before Sheridan Lane, and cover with a grassy area. “I’m very concerned about the septic field in a timeshare situation. I don’t think the laws have been tested for that kind of density.”
“I question whether the township (which would inherit liability if something goes wrong, Thatcher says) really wants to take on such a big responsibility.”
Moceri and his developing team are top-of-the-line professionals, though, adept at quelling public relations fears. Moceri told the Glen Arbor Sun he’s learned from the mistakes of local developers in the past, who haven’t gotten on the good side of the general public. He is no celebrity, listing his name in the phone book, participating in Glen Arbor’s Fourth of July parade, reciting at the Beach Bard’s Bonfire, and frequenting local restaurants.
“I exceeded all the DNR standards and have presented a sound plan,” Moceri said. “This is right in the heart of the business district, and we always reside in our own development.
“Le Bear Resort is a great opportunity for others to enjoy their own piece of heaven in Glen Arbor. Just think, there are no homes on Sleeping Bear Bay for sale right now.”