New owner intends to keep Belle in Hot Springs

A local family bought the Belle of Hot Springs and 1.28-acre Long Island property where it's docked since 1984 at auction Tuesday, an area auction house said.

"They intend to keep it at its current location and continue operating it," auction agent David Brewer of Wilson Real Estate Auctioneers Inc. said Friday. "They're a local family, and they have a house on Lake Hamilton."

Brewer said he can't reveal the buyer or the sale price until the transaction closes, which he said will take about 30 days. Richard Thacker owns the Belle and Long Island property, acquiring the real estate for $1.35 million from Buhrow Enterprises in 2016, according to property records.

The Belle and real estate at 5200 Central Ave. were purchased by a single party despite being auctioned separately. According to information available to prospective buyers, Dubuque Boat & Boiler Co. built the riverboat in 1960. It was reconstructed in 1994 and has been painted and serviced within the last three years.

The Belle is 72 feet long, 35 feet wide and weighs 96 gross tons. It can carry up to 200 passengers on its three decks, with two interior levels featuring a full-service kitchen, bar, dining room and dance floor and an open-air upper level.

The real estate includes the 4,000-square-foot building that houses Gilligan's on the Lake restaurant. Poised on the west end of Long Island, the property sits at one of Lake Hamilton's most trafficked areas.

"This property is at the intersection of the two main routes for boats traveling across the lake," the auction description said. "This property has everything you could want for a prime development on Lake Hamilton."

Local on 08/25/2019

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