For the past several weeks, rumors about the possible sale of Alderbrook Resort on Hood Canal have been swirling about.

They started when Sen. Tim Sheldon (D-Shelton), who is also executive director of the Mason County Economic Development Council (EDC) and a Public Utility District 1 board member, revealed that CHRISTA Ministries, which owns the resort, had approached the PUD to buy Alderbrook’s water and sewer systems for $300,000. Sheldon saw that as the first step in an eventual sale process.

Kim E. Kimmy, a spokesperson for CHRISTA, confirmed the sale rumors, saying, “The board has decided to sell because it feels CHRISTA should do what CHRISTA does best, which is ministries.”

CHRISTA, which is based in Shoreline, is an evangelical group of 10 ministries that includes a child placement agency, a career placement network, an international prenatal care agency, counseling services, three radio stations, an AIDS outreach program, an elementary and high school and an alternative high school.

It also owns a large senior assisted living facility on Dyes Inlet in Silverdale and has a number of operations in Kitsap including youth camps in Silverdale and at Horseshoe Lake in South Kitsap. Alderbrook falls under its Camps and Conferences Group.

CHRISTA has reportedly hired Kevin Clarke, a real estate consultant and appraiser from Kirkland to establish a value and market the property. Clarke declined to comment but believes he’ll be positioned to make public an agreement within a few weeks.

CHRISTA employs 70 people at the facility, making it one of Mason County’s larger employers. The possibility of a sale concerns Sheldon when he puts on his EDC hat.

CHRISTA bought the resort in October of 1998 for $5.75 million from the estate of the late Wes Johnson who operated it for many years. The sale encompassed the 80 room hotel, which includes a restaurant and conference center, 18 cottages; an 18 hole golf course and community with a clubhouse, along with nearly 400 residential lots; a driving range; a swimming pool; a challenge course; the water and sewer systems; marina facilities; and 750 feet of prime, mountain view Hood Canal waterfront that is flanked by summer homes owned by Bill Gates and the Nordstrom family.

CHRISTA has reportedly spent over $1 million remodeling and upgrading the facilities including completely repairing, remodeling and refurnishing all the rooms and cottages, resurfacing the swimming pool, upgrading the landscaping, and improvements to the water and sewer systems.

In spite of all the money CHRISTA has spent upgrading Alderbrook, it has yet to turn a profit. Two resort turnaround specialists with excellent track records, Peter Phillips and Cecile Lipscomb, were brought in to restore Alderbrook to profitability. The pair has worked together successfully a number of other times. Phillips recently left to pursue another venture but Lipscomb has remained.

Phillips had previously allowed that one of the main problems in making Alderbrook profitable was the fact that after the sale to CHRISTA, it was perceived as a strictly Christian facility that was no longer open to the general public — when in fact that’s not the case.

Also, although it brought in an award-winning chef and upgraded the restaurant, a decision by CHRISTA to ban alcohol and tobacco at the resort seems to have limited its potential. Overall, it’s had a small negative impact on the bottom line, but Phillips admitted the effect is cumulative.

More than 200 homes are located in the golf course community across the street on property leased from CHRISTA. Their 99 year leases include water but not sewer service from Alderbrook. Sheldon reports the PUD surveyed the residents about the possibility of taking over the water and sewer systems, but they declined. The PUD has undertaken due diligence and Sheldon estimates a sale will close in the fall.

Part of the problem is that CHRISTA can’t develop the remaining lots because the water system is red tagged because it doesn’t have enough storage capacity to serve them all. The PUD estimates it will cost in the neighborhood of $400,000 to upgrade the system — a cost that will passed on to future residents. There are no problems with the sewer system which only serves the resort.

Doug Proudlock, president of the Alderbrook Golf and Yacht Club, the homeowners association that has been leasing the golf course and related facilities, says the group has also been working with CHRISTA to buy the property it now leases.

In the meantime, Lipscomb stated that Alderbrook will continue to operate as a Christian resort and will honor all contracts and commitments it has, including a summer children’s program that’s run by Bobby Ruhlman.

“Neighborhood people even bring their kids to the program because they know it’s safe,” said Kimmy. “They just love it.”.