Mill River resort, attractions, to be sold to Blue Jays founder

The P.E.I. government has found a buyer for three attractions it owns in West Prince, and Rodd Hotels' resort will be acquired by the same buyer.

The Mill River resort, golf course, fun park and campground will be acquired by Don McDougall, best known as the man who brought the Blue Jays to Toronto, according to a news release from the province.

With the sale comes the promise of major restoration and redevelopment.

"We are excited by the challenge to establish Mill River Resort at the centre of recreation and tourism for the region," McDougall said in a news release.

Province will invest $7.6 million

The province entered into a 20-year agreement with McDougall as part of the transfer.

McDougall will purchase the facility and all lands for $500,000 and invest a minimum of $1 million in renovations and upgrades to the resort facility.

The province will invest $7.6 million to assist with critical capital improvements to the property over 12 years and to cover a portion of expected operational losses for the first six years.

The province says its expected losses to operate the attractions over those 12 years would have been $6.6 million.

Resort will remain open during renovations

The first phase of improvement will begin this spring, and is expected to take about 30 months or two and half years.

The resort and attractions will remain open during the renovations.

As part of securing the deal, the province will purchase the resort from Rodd Hotels for $1.8 million. That money will go against the debt Rodd has with the province.

McDougall operated the attractions under a lease from the government in 2016 through his company MRRI. The province provided $400,000 to MRRI as part of the agreement, which it said was its normal operating loss for the attractions.

• Blue Jays founder Don McDougall to take over Mill River golf course in P.E.I.

McDougall grew up in Bloomfield, not far from the Mill River attractions, and now lives in Stratford, Ont. He is in the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame for bringing the Blue Jays to Toronto in 1976 when he was president of Labatt Breweries.

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