Hideaway Bay Resort

Boutique Resort in Silver Creek Serves as a Lakefront Beach Resort, Restaurant, and Event VenueImage Caption: Several local and state officials gathered on the shores of Lake Erie in Silver Creek Tuesday afternoon to join with the owners of Hideaway Bay Resort - Kevin Cullen (holding scissors), Christian Cullen, and Gene Tundo (both to the immediate left of Kevin Cullen) - to cut the ribbon and officially open the business to the public. SILVER CREEK, N.Y.: --- There’s a new destination on Lake Erie, offering visitors and residents alike the opportunity to experience a one-of-a-kind stay featuring sandy shores and breathtaking sunsets. View Ribbon Cutting Photo Stream Local and state officials gathered in Silver Creek on Tuesday, June 11, to help cut the ribbon for Hideaway Bay Resort, a four-season, eco-friendly resort located on 3.6 acres of secluded lakefront property just to the east of the Walnut Creek outlet on Lake Erie. The event was co-hosted by the County of Chautauqua Industrial Development Agency (CCIDA) and the Chautauqua County Chamber of Commerce. WATCH THE RIBBON CUTTING EVENT Hideaway Bay Resort is the culmination of a $2 million redevelopment project made possible by an ownership team represented by Kevin and Christian Cullen of Adventure Sports Development and Mathew and Gene Tundo of Tundo Construction. In 2021, the group formed 42 Lake Erie, LLC to develop the project. The resort provides high-end boutique resort and recreation opportunities, featuring ten new waterfront cottages (each 360 sq. ft.) and a 4,080 square-foot, two-story restaurant and banquet space designed to host events, including weddings, banquets, and retreats – with upper and lower patios and indoor/outdoor full service bars. The restaurant, called “Drift”, will be open to the public seven days a week and can also be rented for private events and parties. Watersports operations will also be provided on site, including paddle boarding, kite boarding, and a natural kayak launch. The resort will also feature a hot tub, sauna, and spa service as well as walking trails, a fire pit, in-house fishing guides, and educational birding events. Hideaway Bay also presents itself as being eco-friendly, inside and out. This includes a dune restoration project, complete with native plants and a rain garden. Each cottage will have eco-friendly sheets and bath products and the owners are working to make Hideaway Bay the first destination anywhere on the Great Lakes to be certified as “eco-friendly” by the Surfrider Foundation. “We are excited to showcase the area’s natural beauty and leverage its recreational attributes to draw visitors and sports enthusiasts to the area,” said Kevin Cullen. “There really is something for everyone to do in this region and we are going to celebrate the variety of activities that are available here in Chautauqua County.” “It’s also personally important for us to live in harmony with nature, as opposed to just extracting from it,” added Christian Cullen. “That’s why having an eco-friendly focus is so important to us, in addition to providing a space that people of all ages will enjoy when they come here to stay or to simply attend an event.” “This latest attraction on the shores of Lake Erie will help to make Silver Creek a year-round destination for visitors from throughout the region,” said Paul “PJ” Wendel, Chautauqua County Executive. “Congratulations to the Hideaway Bay team for all the hard work and dedication they put forward to help make this development effort come to life.” The opening of the resort is the culmination of years of planning and development. Formerly the site of the regionally well-known Hideaway Bay Restaurant, the property went into foreclosure and later was destroyed by arson. The vacant land had been actively marketed for development by the Chautauqua County Land Bank for many years, leading up to an RFP process with 42 Lake Erie, LLC selected as developer. After securing the necessary funding for the project, a groundbreaking ceremony took place in June 2023. A year later, the resort is now open and ready for business. “The resort is a terrific new development that connects the community and the Local Waterfront Redevelopment Plan very well,” said Gina Paradis, Chautauqua County Land Bank Executive Director. “We were happy to facilitate the process of identifying the best new development for the site and are extremely excited to see it is now open and ready to serve the public.” “Seeing this project completed has been a long-term goal of mine, going back to the days when I served on the Chautauqua County Legislature and later as County Executive,” said Sen. George Borrello, who attended the 2023 groundbreaking but was unable to attend the ribbon cutting in person and instead made a prepared statement. “As a Hanover resident and a local business owner, it’s exciting to welcome a world-class resort like Hideaway Bay to our community. It will be a wonderful addition to our Lake Erie businesses and contribute to our reputation as a desirable vacation destination. We wish them great success!” “We’re extremely grateful to the Cullen family and the Tundo family for making this long-term investment in our community,” added Jeffrey Hornburg, Mayor of Silver Creek. “The Hideaway Bay Resort will fit nicely within the lakefront area and is going to help put Silver Creek on the map as a must-visit Western New York destination. We look forward to the positive impact it will have on our village in the many years to come.” Funding for the project came from a variety of public and private sources, including CCIDA, which authorized tax abatements and exemptions for the project in 2021 and a 15-year PILOT agreement totaling $191,285 for the involved taxing jurisdictions, along with a $491,210 low-interest loan. CCIDA also provided extensive project coordination and technical expertise. The project also received a $434,000 low interest loan from New York State’s Homes and Community Renewal (HCR) program, funded through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program. A total of 30 temporary construction jobs benefited from the project and 16-plus new jobs created, once fully open. “This is yet another project that illustrates how we can make positive change to our region and the local economy when we all pitch in and work together,” said Mark Geise, Deputy County Executive for Economic Development and CCIDA CEO. “Chautauqua County, the Village of Silver Creek, Land Bank, CCIDA, and the JCC Small Business Development Center all provided expertise, working collaboratively and diligently for several years to attract this exciting new tourism and event venue to Silver Creek and to help it cross the finish line. Thank you to everyone involved with this project for helping to make it a reality.” For more information on the Hideaway Bay Resort, visit HideawayBayResortNY.com, call (716) 401-5762, or find it on Facebook. About CCIDA - The CCIDA is an economic development organization authorized and empowered by the State of New York to make Chautauqua County a better place to work, live, and visit. It facilitates development by attracting new businesses, while promoting the retention and expansion of existing businesses. Assistance in the form of incentives – tax abatements, low interest loans, and bond financing – enhances the opportunities for job creation and retention by our businesses. For more information visit ChooseCHQ.com. Hideaway Bay resort features ten waterfront cottages (each 360 sq. ft.) and a 4,080 square-foot, two-story restaurant and banquet space designed to host events, including weddings, banquets, and retreats.  

IDA Approves Incentives for Hideaway Bay ResortSILVER CREEK, N.Y.: — The new Hideaway Bay Resort high-end glamping and recreation resort is one step closer to development.  Mark Geise, Deputy County Executive for Economic Development and Chief Executive Officer of the County of Chautauqua Industrial Development Agency (CCIDA), announced the recent approval of incentives by the CCIDA Board of Directors at its July 27, 2021 meeting. The new resort will be situated on the 3.6-acre former Hideaway Bay Restaurant site on Lake Erie and Walnut Creek in the Village of Silver Creek.  The developers are using an active and healthy living design that showcases the natural beauty along with world-class recreation, fishing, and birdwatching opportunities. It will feature 10 waterfront cottages, a restaurant-bar and event space, and four seasons of diverse world-class active and passive recreation opportunities. The cottages, or “glamping units,” will have high-end décor, private patio space, and stunning waterfront views.  A new 2-story event space will be designed to host events such as weddings and retreats, with upper and lower patios, and an indoor/outdoor full-service bar.  Active and passive recreation opportunities will also be available on site.  The owners have been operating Stand-Up Paddleboard (SUP) for over 5 years, and will provide watersports such as paddleboarding and kite boarding along with an active recreation center with a natural kayak launch, in-house fishing guides, and educational birding events.  Hideaway Bay Resort will also book other off-site activities such as horseback riding, snowmobiling, skiing, kiteboarding, and more. A Western New York native and adventure sport enthusiast, Kevin Cullen and his wife Christian are two of the project owners and developers, residing in the Silver Creek area with their family.   Cullen said, “We are excited to showcase the area’s natural beauty and leverage its recreational attributes to draw visitors and sports enthusiasts to the area. There really is something for everyone to do in this region and we are going to celebrate the variety of activities that are available here.” CCIDA approved providing up front tax abatements for the $1.4 million development, including Sales Tax, Mortgage Recording Tax, and Payment in Lieu of Tax (PILOT) real property tax exemptions to incentivize the project.  The CCIDA also provided extensive project coordination and technical expertise.  Chautauqua County, the Village of Silver Creek, Town of Hanover, and Silver Creek Central School District will now each receive new additional real property tax revenue payments via the CCIDA PILOT.  Thirty construction jobs are projected plus thirty new jobs at the resort. Chautauqua County Executive PJ Wendel said, “I commend Mark Geise and the CCIDA team for their laser focus on Chautauqua County’s upward trajectory despite the recent pandemic.  Our comeback thus far has proven to be greater than our setback, and this new development is a notable step forward for our local economy.” “Chautauqua County, the Village of Silver Creek, Land Bank, CCIDA, and the JCC Small Business Development Center all provided expertise, working collaboratively and diligently for several years to attract this exciting new tourism and event venue to Silver Creek,” said Geise. Jeffrey Hornburg, Village of Silver Creek Mayor, is also looking forward to the site redevelopment and has been actively working with the project team for many months toward that end.  Hornburg said, “The Village of Silver Creek is excited to support the redevelopment of the Hideaway Bay property. It has been a pleasure meeting with Kevin Cullen, discussing his plans for the renovation of the property, and we feel this development will fit nicely within the lakefront area.  As Mayor, I stand ready and willing to assist Mr. Cullen and his organization in any way I can.” The Chautauqua County Lank Bank facilitated the property redevelopment plans and sale after it went into foreclosure, and additionally worked through the unexpected arson and demolition.  Gina Paradis, Chautauqua County Land Bank Executive Director, said, “This is a terrific new development that connects the community and the Local Waterfront Redevelopment Plan very well. We were happy to facilitate the process of identifying the best new development for the site.” Subject to remaining project approvals, construction is expected to begin this fall with the resort becoming operational in the spring of 2022.  The development team is proceeding as 42 Lake Erie LLC and Hideaway Bay Resort comprised primarily of partners Adventure Sports Development LLC, led by Cullen and Christian Edie, and Tundo Construction of Blasdell, owned by brothers Gene and Matt Tundo.  About CCIDA – The CCIDA is an economic development organization authorized and empowered by the State of New York to make Chautauqua County a better place to work, live, and visit. They facilitate development by attracting new businesses, while promoting the retention and expansion of existing businesses. Assistance in the form of incentives – tax abatements, low interest loans, and bond financing – enhances the opportunities for job creation and retention by our businesses.  For more information visit www.ccida.com.