Signed: Lake Lure and Second Mountain Settle the Boathouse Lawsuit
Lake Lure, NC — September 17, 2026
Photo: Lake Lure Insider
Where we stand
Lake Lure Insider is not a neutral bystander in this story — we published a petition, linked at the bottom of this piece, asking the Town of Lake Lure and Lured Market to reach a resolution in the open. That's what happened here. This piece is a straight read of the signed agreement itself, compared against both sides' earlier public proposals. Where something is this outlet's own math or read rather than the document's own language, we say so.
Read the ask and sign the petition →
The Town of Lake Lure and Second Mountain, LLC signed a settlement agreement September 16, ending — on paper, at least for now — the boathouse dispute and eviction case. Second Mountain keeps its Suite A lease at a temporarily reduced rent, drops its claim to the police boathouse, and gets in writing what it never had before: a map of exactly what it's leasing.
This is a follow-up to our coverage of Second Mountain's September 8 counter-proposal and the Town's September 11 response. For every document and on-record statement behind this story, see our running source-document index.
The Town says it has "reached a settlement agreement with Second Mountain, LLC" and that the parties "intend to seek dismissal" of the two lawsuits that have run in parallel since June: Second Mountain's Superior Court case over the police boathouse and the Town's small-claims eviction case over unpaid rent. In the interest of transparency, the Town has posted the signed agreement itself for public review.
This outlet has reviewed that signed document directly. Its terms are, with two additions, what the Town proposed on September 11 — not the more sweeping deal Second Mountain had counter-proposed a few days before that.
What the settlement actually says
The four-page "Settlement Agreement and Mutual Release" is dated September 16, 2026, and signed by Paul Brock (Second Mountain's member/manager) and Olivia Stewman (the Town's manager). It's captioned with both pending case numbers and states the parties "have agreed to resolve all claims contained in the above-captioned lawsuits."
In full, the settlement:
- Has Second Mountain abandon its claim to a right to occupy the Police Boathouse at 2662 Memorial Highway.
- Requires Second Mountain to pay the Town $3,218 in past-due Suite A rent within two business days of signing, with the Town waiving late fees and interest that built up between August 1 and August 17 — the date Second Mountain first tried to pay.
- Cuts September 2026 rent to $2,500, due within two business days after the Town files a dismissal of the eviction case.
- Holds rent at $2,500 a month from October 2026 through April 2027.
- Automatically reverts rent to the original Suite A lease amount starting May 1, 2027, with both sides going back to that lease's normal terms.
- Lets Second Mountain and its customers use the Town's public boat slips and boat ramp — as members of the public, on the same non-exclusive terms as anyone else.
- Requires the Town, within a week, to provide illustrations showing exactly what area is covered by the Suite A lease, by the related concession agreement, and by the separate Suite B lease.
- Commits both sides to negotiate in good faith if Second Mountain disagrees with the boundaries the Town identifies.
- Has the Town begin the process of removing or repairing the broken docks tied to the boathouse "as soon as practicable."
- Commits the Town to "reasonable efforts" toward getting NCDOT to discuss a crosswalk near the property.
The agreement closes by describing itself as "a full and final resolution of all claims, demands, damages, liabilities, causes of action, defenses, costs, expenses, and attorneys' fees" tied to the dispute.
How this stacks up against both sides' own asks
Readers who followed our coverage of the two competing proposals will recognize most of this immediately. It's the Town's offer, essentially word for word, that got signed.
| Term | Second Mountain's Sept. 8 ask | Signed settlement, Sept. 16 |
|---|---|---|
| Boathouse | Second Mountain gives it up | Second Mountain gives it up — matches |
| Rent, Sept. 2026–Apr. 2027 | $2,750/mo, combined for Suites A and B | $2,500/mo, Suite A only — Suite B untouched |
| Rent, May 2027 onward | $3,250/mo combined through the lease's 2029 end date | Reverts to full original lease terms — no phase-in |
| Kayak-revenue concession | 15% of gross kayak-rental revenue, on top of rent | Not included |
| Boat-ramp / dock rights | First right of refusal if ramp is ever privatized, plus guaranteed kayak-business use | Public access only, same rules as any other member of the public |
| Sublet rights | Second Mountain may sublet the space | Not included |
| Waiver clause | New clause: landlord delay doesn't waive future enforcement | Not included |
| Crosswalk | Town's “best efforts,” including building sidewalks if needed | Town's “reasonable efforts to facilitate discussions” with NCDOT — matches Sept. 11 language |
| New lease negotiation | Both sides negotiate a brand-new lease by Dec. 31, 2026 | Not included — settlement treats this as a permanent resolution, not a bridge to a new lease |
| Lease boundaries | Not addressed | New — Town must provide illustrations of leased areas within a week, with a good-faith-negotiation fallback |
| Boathouse docks | Not addressed | New — Town commits to a procurement process to remove or repair them |
Two elements in the signed version go beyond what this outlet previously reported from the Town's September 11 release: the commitment to map the leased areas within a week, and the commitment to begin fixing or removing the boathouse's broken docks. Whether those were quietly part of the September 11 offer all along or were added in the final week of negotiation isn't clear from what's public.
What didn't make it into the final deal is just as telling. Second Mountain's own September 8 proposal had asked for a 15% cut of kayak-rental revenue credited against rent, a right of first refusal if the Town ever privatized the boat ramp, the right to sublet the space, a rewritten anti-waiver clause, and a commitment to negotiate an entirely new lease by the end of this year. None of that is in the signed agreement. Suite B — Lake Lure Rowing's separate lease for the gym next door — isn't touched by this settlement at all, same as it wasn't in the Town's September 11 draft.
The math
| Monthly | Change | |
|---|---|---|
| Suite A, current lease | $3,518 | — |
| Suite A, Sept. 2026–Apr. 2027 | $2,500 | −$1,018/mo (−28.9%) |
| Suite A, May 2027 onward | reverts to $3,518 (or more, if the lease's 2% annual increase applies) | back to baseline |
| Building total (A+B), current | $4,600 | — |
| Building total (A+B), Sept. 2026–Apr. 2027 | $3,582 | −$1,018/mo (−22.1%) |
Isolating Suite A, the settlement drops the monthly rent from $3,518 to $2,500 — a cut of $1,018, or about 29% — for eight months, September 2026 through April 2027. On May 1, 2027, rent automatically snaps back to $3,518, plus whatever the lease's built-in 2% annual increase has added by then.
Looked at across the whole building — Suite A plus Suite B's unchanged $1,082 — combined rent drops from $4,600 to $3,582 a month for that same eight-month stretch: the same $1,018 dollar reduction, expressed as about 22% against the larger combined base.
The distinction that matters here: this is a temporary dip with a hard, automatic expiration date, not the kind of lasting reduction Second Mountain had asked for. Second Mountain's own September 8 proposal sought a lower combined rent running in two steps through April 2029. The version that got signed gives Second Mountain breathing room through next winter and then puts the lease back exactly where it was.
There still isn't a published Suite A/Suite B square-footage breakdown for this building, so a defensible per-square-foot figure for Suite A on its own isn't possible from the public record — the same limitation this outlet has flagged in its prior coverage of this dispute.
What happens next
Signing the agreement isn't the same as closing the court file. The Town's own announcement says the parties "intend to seek dismissal of pending litigation" — language that describes a next step, not something the signing itself accomplished.
A few other deadlines are worth watching: the Town owes illustrations of the leased areas within a week of signing (roughly September 23), and the procurement process for the boathouse's broken docks has no fixed date attached to it — only "as soon as practicable."
This outlet will follow up once the dismissal is filed and once those two commitments are met.
Sourcing note: this piece is built from direct review of the signed Settlement Agreement and Mutual Release, also posted publicly by the Town of Lake Lure, and the Town's own public announcement of the settlement. The math throughout is this outlet's own and is not legal or financial advice. The Town of Lake Lure was not separately reached for comment beyond its public announcement before publication.
Last updated: 2026-09-17