DUNKIRK – A change in ownership and operation at the Chadwick Bay Marina has put the wind in the sails of all those involved in seeing the sale close Wednesday.

Previous owner Jeff Gambino said the sale closed and he turned the keys over to Charles Pringle at 2 p.m.

Gambino said he is excited to leave the marina in Pringle’s hands.

“I wish Charles all the luck. I am excited for all the customers of Chadwick Bay and for the citizens of Dunkirk. I think what he’s going to bring to the table is going to be great for the city of Dunkirk,” he said. “I’m looking forward to seeing what Charles is going to do down there. Now this can allow my wife and I to concentrate our interest on the White Inn.”

Pringle owns Holiday Harbor in Celoron and said he is excited to start operating the marina in Dunkirk’s harbor, part of which he now owns and the other part he leases from the city.

“We’re very excited to be coming to Dunkirk. As you know, we have a marina in the south county on Chautauqua Lake and we see a ton of opportunity up here. We love the boating community; that’s what we do. We love the city of Dunkirk and we can’t say enough about working with everybody, not just the officials, but all the vendors, all the customers that we’ve met so far, even the citizens in the community. We’re really excited about this,” he said.

Both Gambino and Pringle thanked local officials and the Chautauqua County Industrial Development staff for assistance during the sale.

“I want to thank Dunkirk Mayor Willie Rosas for working with us and seeing our vision with taking over the marina, as well as the councilmembers. They were very good to work with. We’re very pleased to be working with the city. I also want to thank Vince Horrigan, the county (executive); Kevin Sanvidge, director of the IDA; Rich Dixon; Michelle Turner; and Kristine Morabito. They were wonderful to work with and, again, shared our vision on what we want to do,” Pringle said.

Gambino added, “I give the county executive and his team a lot of credit in not only facilitating the sale, but also helping it close. … I would also like to express my thanks to (Mayor) Willie Rosas as well. Unfortunately we had a setback to do with some mistakes by the city attorney, however those were quickly rectified, which enabled the sale to go through.”

Rosas said he is excited to work with Pringle in the future.

“We worked closely on this and I did everything with in my power as mayor to see it through. I think the city’s future looks bright,” he said.

Pringle, his wife Leslie, and his team will be operating the marina with a short- and long-term vision for its future.

“Immediately, we see that there’s a great need to improve the marina, make sure it’s a safe place, make sure that the boaters have what they need to enjoy the rest of their season. Certainly, that’s our short-term goals. We want to be able to sell gas and diesel and support the boaters any way we need to. That’s probably what we’re going to be doing in the short term. We’re already in the middle of the season and we’ll build on the business from there,” he explained.

Although the sale has closed, an official press release is expected from the county on Monday.