Lease signed for Lake Cumberland ‘Marina at Rowena’

Lt. Col. Stephen Murphy, Nashville District commander, welcomes Tony Sloan and Tom Allen, managing members of Marina at Rowena, LLC, to sign the lease agreement for Lake Cumberland's Marina at Rowena during a signing ceremony July 5, 2017 at the district headquarters in the Estes Kefauver Federal Building at Nashville, Tenn. (Photo by Lee Roberts)
Lt. Col. Stephen Murphy, Nashville District commander, welcomes Tony Sloan and Tom Allen, managing members of Marina at Rowena, LLC, to sign the lease agreement for Lake Cumberland’s Marina at Rowena during a signing ceremony July 5, 2017 at the district headquarters in the Estes Kefauver Federal Building at Nashville, Tenn. (Photo by Lee Roberts)

By Lee Roberts

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (July 5, 2017) – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Nashville District held a lease signing ceremony today for the Marina at Rowena, a new commercial concession marina with related facilities and services at Rowena Landing South on Lake Cumberland in Russell and Clinton Counties, just north of Albany, Ky.

Lt. Col. Stephen Murphy, Nashville District commander, joined Tony Sloan and Tom Allen, managing members of Marina at Rowena, LLC, to sign the lease agreement at the district headquarters in the Estes Kefauver Federal Building at Nashville, Tenn.

“I really want to say thank you to the (Corps of Engineers) team. There was a lot of effort, a lot of review, a lot of meetings to reach this milestone,” Murphy said.  “Today’s lease signing is very good for the lake and everyone around the lake.”

The site of the new marina is accessible from State Highway 90 via State Road 558, an asphalt road that ends at the abandoned Rowena Ferry site where a large boat launching ramp is located. The lease area consists of approximately 407 acres of land and water.

Sloan said being able to sign a lease marks the end of a long but worthwhile process, which makes it possible to develop this new marina in Russell and Clinton Counties.

“This site was envisioned by government planners in 1949 as a very strategic location for a future marina and recreational development,” Sloan noted. “This site consists of over 400 acres within the lease plus 2,000 contiguous acres for the public’s enjoyment.”

Allen said that the Marina at Rowena will be located at the epi-center of recreational boating on Lake Cumberland on the biggest, deepest and cleanest water on the lake.

“Located only four miles upstream of Wolf Creek Dam from the largest parking and launching area on the lake, Rowena is nearby hundreds of coves that provide fishing, watersports and anchorage,” Allen said.

Tony Sloan, managing member of Marina at Rowena, LLC, signs the lease agreement for Lake Cumberland's Marina at Rowena during a signing ceremony July 5, 2017 at the district headquarters in the Estes Kefauver Federal Building at Nashville, Tenn. He is surrounded by Corps of Engineers Officials and fellow managing member Tom Allen. (Photo by Lee Roberts)
Tony Sloan, managing member of Marina at Rowena, LLC, signs the lease agreement for Lake Cumberland’s Marina at Rowena during a signing ceremony July 5, 2017 at the district headquarters in the Estes Kefauver Federal Building at Nashville, Tenn. He is surrounded by Corps of Engineers Officials and fellow managing member Tom Allen. (Photo by Lee Roberts)

Veronica Hiriams, Louisville District Real Estate chief and a real estate contracting officer, represented the Corps of Engineers and signed the lease. Nashville District Regulatory Division Chief Tammy Turley signed the regulatory permit.  Jennifer Gillespie, Nashville District Real Estate Branch, served as notary.

The lease is for 25 years with extension options for 15 and 10 years thereafter. With the lease signed, they will be building a parking lot and boat launching ramp during the first year of development. In the second year the main dock with 121 slips and a café will be constructed to begin operations.

The Marina at Rowena will become the ninth marina to operate and serve the recreating public and boaters at Lake Cumberland.

“This is the first new marina at a lake managed by the Nashville District in decades,” said Mike Abernathy, chief of the Nashville District Real Estate Office.