Armstrong County golf resort sells for $2.5M, leaving weddings, other events in limbo

A public golf resort in Armstrong County has sold for $2.5 million, leaving many customers who had events booked at the venue scrambling to find alternate accommodations.

The Inn at Lenape Heights Event Center & Golf Resort in Manor Township sold Jan. 31 to 950 Golf Course Road LLC. The buyer plans to convert the property to Lenape Wellness Center, a center for short-term mental health and wellness.

Rob Samuels, co-owner of 950 Golf Course Road LLC, confirmed that the resort closed this month and will no longer be open for golf or events.

Lenape Wellness is expected to open later this month.

In an effort to not leave anyone who booked an event in a lurch, Samuels said, the new owners are offering use of the venue’s grounds if a customer wants to convert to an outdoor event. The building won’t be available because it will be under renovation.

“We will give them a place to hold the wedding if they can’t find any means they like better,” he said.

Bride-to-be Kavay Barron of Johnstown said she was shocked to get an email from Lenape Events Center wedding coordinator Melissa Harmon on Thursday stating the resort had closed and that her wedding venue booking was no longer available.

“We’re completely devastated to hear the news — four months to the date before we were supposed to be getting married,” Barron said.

Washington Township bride-to-be Megan Kiebler drove to the resort Wednesday evening because she said she wasn’t receiving any responses to her emails and phone calls.

“I just had a pit in my stomach that something wasn’t right, and I was right,” said Kiebler, a 2007 Kiski Area High School graduate.

Kiebler found a small paper notice posted on the entrance door that reads: “Sorry for any inconvenience but the resort is temporarily closed. This includes the golf course, bar and restaurant, banquet facility and hotel. We hope to be back open soon. Thanks.”

Kiebler’s wedding date is May 4.

“I cried. I thought I was having a panic attack,” she said. “We’re hoping we get our money back. Now it’s all the extra expenses like redoing invitations. The venues we are looking at will cost more. We could be looking at a couple thousand dollars more.

“We’re still getting married.”

Kiebler said she is owed $6,700.

“This is just a nightmare. I never once thought this would happen. I thought I was done with the tears,” she said. “I feel as though they knew, and it would have been nice to know. A sale just doesn’t happen overnight.”

Barron also is trying to find another venue to accommodate her 170-plus guests.

Samuels said Friday that the employees at Lenape Golf Resort had been let go by the previous owner, Cross Country Equity LLC, after the sale.

“We bought the real estate — not the business, because it was losing money,” said Samuels in a phone interview from Palm Beach County, Fla.

Attempts to reach Cross Country Equity were unsuccessful.

Samuels stressed that anyone who booked an event will receive a refund in the mail in the coming weeks.

Five of Lenape’s employees who had been let go were hired back by 950 Golf Course Road LLC.

“We started making phone calls today,” Samuels said. “We recovered everyone’s deposits and have a former employee back working and making calls. Everyone will get their deposits back for their events.”

Samuels said golfers with pre-paid annual golf memberships also will be reimbursed.

John Kiser of North Apollo said he ran a golf league at Lenape since 1990. When he retired in 2012, he played at the course three times a week.

“It was like a second home to me,” Kiser said. “Me, along with everyone else in our league, is really devastated.”

Seventy people were in the league last year, Kiser said.

While he plans to move the league to another golf course in the area, “it’s not going to be the same,” he said.

Samuels said Cross Country Equity’s decision to sell the resort should not be held against them. The property had been on the market for about a year.

“These people are good people that tried very hard to make this work, and we have helped to get people their money back,” Samuels said. “The property needs to be repurposed in an area that needs good jobs.”

Samuels said Lenape Wellness Center is in the process of applying for state licensing.

“We kept about five employees to help us transition to a larger employer employing about 25 full-time employees,” Samuels said.

“We will be beneficial for the community, a good employer and neighbor.”

Staff writer Kellen Stepler and news editor Mike Orfanopoulos contributed to this report.