The Reform movement is one step closer to selling Camp Swig, but the buyer is unlikely to be a local Jewish group. The group reportedly missed the deadline to increase its bid for the Saratoga facility.
Although some members of HaMakom, which had bid $5 million to purchase the dormant camp, denied to j. that a deadline existed, officials at the Union for Reform Judaism confirmed that there was a Nov. 30 deadline — and that HaMakom missed it.
“We have not heard from them at all,” said URJ spokeswoman Emily Grotta on Dec. 5.
Grotta said the URJ entered negotiations with a non-Jewish buyer, which bid $6 million. But “the paperwork is not signed yet,” she added. “We are hoping to have a signed agreement shortly.”
The sale cannot become final until it is approved by the URJ’s board of trustees or executive committee. Since it is unlikely that the paperwork will be ready for either of their December meetings, approval may not come until the next round of meetings in March.
“Once we’ve entered into a signed agreement with the group, we are ethically bound to [sell] to them,” said Grotta.
CopyrightJ, the Jewish news weekly of Northern California