A little after 1 PM on Sept. 30th Rosario Resort sold for a reported 5.4 million to a local mainland developer who is currently in the process of putting together a marina development in Anacortes WA. The property’s main attraction is the 25,000- square-foot Moran Mansion, built in 1909 by former Seattle Mayor Robert Moran, also a shipbuilder. The property also includes a 34-slip marina and 28 offshore moorings, plus a conference center, restaurants, a museum and spa.

Second auction in its history
Rosario was first developed by Robert Moran, the former Seattle mayor and shipbuilder, who built the mansion in 1906-09 and retired to a life of leisure and philanthropy; his greatest gift to the state of Washington became Moran State Park.

 

In 1938, at age 75, Moran sold the mansion and 1,339 acres to Donald Rheem of Rheem Manufacturing Co. for $50,000 — a relatively paltry sum considering he had invested, according to Peacock’s book, $1.5 million in developing Rosario.

 

“He wanted someone to be able to afford it through the Depression,” Peacock said of Moran.

 

Rheem owned Rosario until 1958 — his wife, incidentally, did not die from a fall from the music room balcony, as rumored, Peacock said. Rheem sold Rosario to Ralph Curton of the Falcon Corporation in Waco, Texas for $455,000. Curton first envisioned developing Rosario into a resort, but was forced to sell after two years when his oil wells dried up, Peacock said.

 

In 1960, Curton sold Rosario for $225,000 to Gilbert Geiser, former mayor of Mountlake Terrace. That year, Geiser first offered rooms as overnight accommodations in the mansion and a “boatel.”

 

Geiser sold Rosario for $5.5 million in 1980, to three investors from Seattle — Manfred Cieslik, Gerta Faust and Jim Roberts. They went bankrupt in 1984 and Geiser got Rosario back. He died in 1987 and his wife, Sarah, owned Rosario until 1994, when she sold it to Red Rock Resorts of Arizona.

 

Red Rock Resorts investor Jessica Cato bought Rosario in 1996, then sold it in 1998 to Olympus Real Estate of Dallas, Texas, the current owner.

 

Today, Rosario Resort consists of the mansion and museum, Mansion Dining Room, the Cascade Bay Grill, Dockside General Store, The Spa at Rosario, three swimming pools, outdoor games, and 122 guest rooms spread throughout the hillside overlooking Cascade Bay. The guest rooms include new two-bedroom condominiums.

 

Rosario Resort also has a marina with more than 30 slips and numerous mooring buoys. The resort provides access to kayak tours, sailing and whale watching/wildlife cruises.

 

All told, the resort is 74 acres.

 

“Seasonality is difficult,” Peacock said. “There are some operational issues in terms of the layout of the property, which the master plan corrects — making better use of the mansion, preserving it, keeping it open to the public, rebuilding the kitchen and dining room and spa.”

 

Peacock said guest lodging is located away from the services offered in the mansion, which has proven difficult. He said the master plan includes a wing of guest rooms connected to the mansion to bring guests closer to those services.

 

“I predict that in the auction, the person who wins the bid will be someone who has a passion for the resort,” Peacock said. “It’s going to take someone with quite a bit of money to follow through with the master plan.”

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