COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- A recent court ruling could make way for the former Fort Rapids waterpark on the East Side to finally be sold.
Franklin County Common Pleas Court Judge Michael Holbrock granted a summary judgment this month in favor of the Jizi Cui estate, dealing a blow to Fort Rapids' current acting owner, Jeff Oh Kern. The ruling clears a legal hurdle that was preventing a sale of the waterpark, meaning Drever Capital Management's plan to purchase the property might now move forward. Watch a previous NBC4 report on a possible Fort Rapids sale in the video player above.
A California investor, Kern bought Fort Rapids for $2.5 million at an auction in 2017, a year after the city of Columbus ordered the resort to close due to a history of health and safety complaints. Dan Sheeran, a Columbus real estate agent working with Drever Capital, told NBC4 in 2023 that Kern was planning to transform the site into a part-hotel, part-soccer facility.
Federal institute that gives Intel its New Albany funds is facing potential layoffs under TrumpThat vision faded when Kern learned the land next door, which he intended to buy, was already under contract with and later bought by Mount Carmel Health System. At that point, the out-of-state investor lost interest in revamping the resort "because his dream was not really going to happen," Sheeran said.
Kern gave up and transferred ownership of the site to Cui but backpedaled on that plan when Cui died without a will in 2019, Sheeran said. He then successfully moved a Franklin County probate court to restore his ownership status.
Since then, Kern has let the abandoned Fort Rapids fall into a state of disrepair, racking up code violation after code violation from the city while threatening to sue anyone who sells the property out of his hands. In 2018, millions of gallons of water poured out of the hotel’s windows after a pipe burst on its upper floor.
How Ohio schools could offer free breakfasts and lunches to studentsCity Attorney Zach Klein in August 2021 declared the site a nuisance over Kern's failure to get it into compliance and secure the proper permits for renovation, Pete Shipley, a spokesperson for the city attorney's office, said. A year later, the work still wasn't finished. Klein ordered Kern in contempt of court and issued a $1,000 fine per day until he brought it into compliance.
In 2021, Drever Capital stepped in with an offer to flip the former resort into $800/month micro-apartments for low-income, working families in Columbus. Drever Capital's proposal mirrored similar workforce housing developments that the company has transformed from “broken hotels” in other U.S. states.
Last June, Kern was ordered by the Franklin County Municipal Court’s Environmental Division to pay $199,000 in contempt fines to the city, as well as being hit with $1,000 in daily fines. When a warrant was issued for his arrest this past August, his daily fines were increased to $2,000 and his bond was set at $2.5 million.
Columbus resident receives surprise ambulance bill she wasn’t responsible forAfter three years of attempts to purchase the property, Sheeran and Drever Capital finally got their approval in October to purchase the former waterpark. Days later, the building was struck by a significant fire, cementing the current structure's future demolition and burning a large hole in the roof. Sheeran and the developers told NBC4 in November that they still intend to go through with the purchase, having already invested nearly $500,000 into their plans to develop the site into affordable workforce housing.
Last December, Klein said the property has been placed in receivership by an Environmental Court Judge, and will now be managed by Ohio receivership agency New Perspective Asset Management. According to court documents, Kern continues to violate safety codes and still hasn't paid numerous court fines, leading to the decision.
New Perspective Asset Management immediately took control of the property, Klein said, and has been working to manage the deserted waterpark as the lawsuit persisted between the city and Kern.
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