Cottage Life - Our marina crisis

Cottage Life - Our marina crisis: "Cottager Jane Milligan owns one of those properties and may have part of the answer. Nine years ago, Nicholson’s Marina on Gloucester Pool, near Orillia, went on the market after more than 50 years in operation. Access to Milligan’s cottage was suddenly in doubt. Her first reaction was to contact the cottagers who use the marina. She invited them to a meeting, not really expecting anyone to come. The meeting drew a crowd. So Milligan formed a corporation—something she’d never done—and offered shares to cottagers. A cottager could secure a share by putting $1,000 up front and further committing to loan the corporation another $15,000 if the marina purchase went through. The marina’s asking price was $650,000. Milligan’s corporation offered $500,000—which meant that she had to sell more than 30 shares, or the deal was off. The property was on a whopping 319 acres, including an area with potential for rental, a feature that may have been the clincher for the more reluctant of the cottage owners. In the end, Milligan bought five shares herself (an outlay of $80,000); the marina owner bought six; other cottagers, including children of the owner, bought 24."