Dallas police pension system unloads money-losing Aetna Springs Resort in Napa County

The historic Aetna Springs Resort, a Napa County resort that helped push Dallas’ troubled police pension system toward insolvency, has been sold for a fraction of the nearly ?$111 million the city sank into the property.

The 3,100-acre Pope Valley resort was recently sold by the public pension fund for $22 million, the Dallas Morning News reported.

The buyer is Alchemy Resorts, which intends to restore the deteriorating property and develop “a world-class luxury resort that showcases Napa’s food and wine combined with leading wellness programs,” according to a press release announcing the deal.

The property has Napa County approvals for an 80-room resort that integrates a number of historic structures, a winery, vineyards, mineral springs and homesites. The craftsman-style resort, home to one of the oldest golf courses in the United States west of the Mississippi, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

“The historic nine-hole golf course, thoroughly renovated by architect Tom Doak, is part of the project, as well as two large development parcels around Lake Luciana and Turkey Hill,” the sale announcement stated.

The mineral springs resort opened in 1877 and would become a popular destination for celebrities, politicians and wealthy tourists. In 1966, Ronald Reagan launched his campaign for governor at Aetna Springs, making his announcement at the dining hall.

It fell into disrepair while owned by an arm of Rev. Sun Myung Moon’s Unification Church, which purchased the resort in 1976.

The property was sold in 2006 to a partnership between the Dallas Police and Fire Pension System and a Napa development firm.

The pension system has spent nearly $111 million on the property, Executive Director Kelly Gottschalk said.

Dallas City Councilman Lee Kleinman, who previously served on the pension board, called the resort the “low-light of the inappropriate purchases” made by the fund.

Former pension fund leaders went on lavish “due diligence” trips across the world, visited Napa County regularly and often stayed in luxury hotels.

The pension system is still trying to sell its Iron Corral vineyard in Napa County, which Gottschalk said “is actually a profitable property.”

This article includes?information from the?Associated Press.