Emerald Valley owners look to the past for new vision.

Byline: RETAIL NOTEBOOK By Joe Mosley The Register-Guard

CRESWELL - The dream is a little fuzzy after 20 years, but an image is recognizable: a first-class lodge, surrounded by a golf course and the peaked rooftops of a toney residential development.

Does the name "Emerald Valley Forrest Inn" ring a bell?

That was Forrest Solomon's choice when he opened the resort back in 1979 - five years before his vision would dissolve into the morass of bankruptcy amid a statewide recession.

The golf course has remained a regional draw, and three owners later the lodge and housing development have been resurrected by local businessmen Norman and Melvin McDougal.

They have infused the 155-acre resort with enthusiasm and working capital since buying it in 1997, sowing seeds for the upscale neighborhoods that have been sprouting around the golf course for the past couple years.

The lodge itself remains under-used, but to fix that the McDougals have reached back into Forrest Solomon's vision.

Stacy Solomon - a successful Cottage Grove restaurateur in his own right, and the grandson of Emerald Valley's founder - has leased the dining facility at the 55,000-square-foot lodge.

For now, Solomon has taken over an existing catering and special events banquet facility at the Emerald Valley Resort. But within about a year, he hopes to have the 300-seat dining room remodeled and reopened as a full-service restaurant and lounge.

"It will be the Emerald Valley Forrest Inn," Solomon says. "I think anybody my age - 40 or over - would probably remember that."

Solomon got his start in the restaurant business when he worked as a bartender 24 years ago at his grandfather's establishment.

He now owns Stacy's Covered Bridge Restaurant and the Tap and Keg Tavern, both in Cottage Grove.

The resort remodel is on a back burner until the McDougals finish an office complex next to the lodge - whose old banquet rooms currently serve as office space. Once the new building is completed, the banquet facility is expected to be reconfigured to accommodate a new dining room and separate lounge.

"We want to do a fine dining restaurant there again," Solomon says. "There's nothing else (similar) down there, and we hope to still be able to draw from the Eugene market."

While staff from his Cottage Grove restaurants are doing double duty to operate the Emerald Valley banquet and catering business - weddings, proms, class reunions and the like - about 20 new employees are expected when the full restaurant reopens.

After 20-plus years, the spot still holds a special place in his heart. "It's nice to see somebody has it that really cares about it again," he said.

Retail Notebook runs Thursdays.