A need for some benefit estimates:
Senate leader Marc Basnight sent Gov. Bev Perdue and other statewide elected officials a letter last week asking them to approve borrowing $3.3 million to continue renovations of a Lake Mattamuskeet Lodge in Hyde County.
The lodge, built in 1915, is on the National Historic Register. The state is in the middle of renovating it.
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The lake, lodge and story behind it are very cool. However, not many people go to the lodge. It is also hard to imagine the private sector undertaking $12 million to restore it, even if they reach the goal of generating paid guests (I think that is the idea, but the link to the "business plan" is not live). As such, much of the benefit of restoration is nonuse values. This would be an interesting study.
