The Lone Star Lake concession building has been unused for years. For now, the building sits on the water’s edge as an unused relic of the past.

The Lone Star Lake concession building — a place that once sold hamburgers, bait and fishing licenses, and rented boats — is in disrepair.

County resident Kevin Eaton wants to turn the Lone Star Lake concession building into an event site for receptions and reunions.

Closed to the public for eight years, its counters and ceilings now are crowded with cobwebs. In one section, the tile floor is torn up from termite damage. Just outside, a dead elm tree looms overhead, and retaining walls look as if they could collapse.

This building is a “diamond in the rough” for Douglas County resident Kevin Eaton.

“We are at a point where we can save it,” Eaton said.

Last month, Eaton brought the building’s poor condition to the attention of the Douglas County Commission. He also presented a plan to preserve the two-story building perched at the edge of the lake and a few hundred feet from the swimming beach.

He wants the building to become a place for reunions, receptions and meetings.

“It is a perfect opportunity for the community at large, both the public and private sector, to work together,” Eaton said.

Eaton has owned property at the lake for 37 years and raised his family there. He has watched as the building deteriorated over time.

In the past several decades, the concession building has seen a steady rotation of people trying to make a go at running a business there.

“The traffic out there was never such that businesses could make it long-term,” Douglas County Administrator Craig Weinaug said.

Since the most recent lease holders closed at the end of the 2002 summer season, the county has been approached by several people interested in improving the building and operating a concession business. Once they discovered how much repairs would cost, they decided not to go forward.

“We ran out of people willing to make a go of it,” Weinaug told commissioners at a recent meeting.

The list of improvements to the building are lengthy. The existing floor tiles, which contain asbestos, must be replaced; bathrooms and the entrance into the building must be made ADA accessible; and the plumbing and electrical systems must be upgraded.

Outside the building, Eaton said, grading work should be done and retaining walls need to be repaired.

For Eaton’s vision of a reception hall to work, he said the bathroom would have to be moved, an upper deck added and the building’s interior rearranged to create space for tables and caterers. With those changes, he believes the building could hold 60 to 80 people.

In all, the upgrades would cost around $90,000.

Under Eaton’s plan, he and the county would share the costs. Eaton, who has been working on a proposal since 2008, hopes to operate a private business that would rent the building for events and set up caterers after the building is fixed.

Weinaug wonders how much money the county should spend to support a private business.

“My concern about the proposal is rather renovating a structure for a private-for-profit-use is enough of a public benefit because it improves the neighborhood,” Weinaug said.

County staff presented another option to county commissioners last month: renovate part of the building into bathroom facilities and possibly incorporate a conference room.

That option would cost around $54,000. Weinaug said the commissioners are more likely to go with that proposal.

“I anticipate the commissioners leaning in the direction of putting facilities in a building that would be a clear public use like a restroom or a conference room rather than going in the direction of something where a private business would be running a reception hall out of it,” Weinaug said.

Both Eaton’s proposal and the county’s option could be paid for by money that comes to the county through the alcohol tax and has to be used for recreational services. Over the past decade, the county has saved around $100,000 through the tax, and so far that money hasn’t been appropriated for any other projects.