BROOKWOOD GARDENS’ FATE

Land Trust Committee

Gets ‘Several’ Proposals

COOPERSTOWN – The deadline for RFPs on Brookwood Gardens passed at 5 p.m. today, and Otsego Land Trust Board Chair Harry Levine said “several” proposals for 11 acres of the prime lakeside property have been received.

“I’m very encouraged,” said Levine, who said a Land Trust committee will meet Friday for an initial review of the 47 proposals that came out of the request-for-proposal process.

He declined to get more specific on the number, but said seeking requests for the property brought 9,000 visits to review information on the Land Trust’s website.

The Land Trust assumed ownership of 22-acre Brookwood Gardens in 2010, after the then-owner, the Cook Foundation, was considering an offer to sell the property.

From the start, Levine said Brookwood must generate enough revenues to support itself, and this summer the Land Trust went out for proposals for the north 11 acres, with the idea to use revenues from selling that piece to support the rest.