Brent Dewey closed on the purchase of the Newark, Ohio public resort in August 2014, and a fire last November required major repairs and forced a grand opening do-over, costing the owner a total of $3.1 million.

When he closed on The Trout Club in Newark, Ohio on August 26, 2014, Brent Dewey knew he was getting more than a run-down old clubhouse and overgrown golf course, the Lewis Center, Ohio, ThisWeek reported.

“This piece of property means a lot to a lot of people,” Dewey said May 28 during his second grand opening at The Trout Club public resort. “It had an aura. We’ve tried to bring some of that back.”

While the 7,000-sq. ft. club is mostly new—the renovated club burned last November, requiring major repairs and forcing a grand opening do-over—it retains an “old-days” atmosphere, ThisWeek reported.

Dorothy Asselin went with her family to the club on June 11 to celebrate her 90th birthday, which was May 29. “It has always been a beautiful place. He made it all brand new again,” Asselin said.

She remembered when she and her late husband, Joe, used to dress up and come to the club for dinner. “You felt like you were going somewhere,” Asselin said.

That’s the kind of feeling that prompted Dewey, who owned a construction and renovation company, to spend $3.1 million thus far to purchase and renovate the club. The property was a working farm until the 1930s, when it was transformed into a hunting and fishing club. A golf course was added in 1963, and a pool came later, ThisWeek reported.

Trout had been raised on the property for years, but it wasn’t until Jan Michalek, a Czechoslovakian immigrant, came along in the late 1950s that the property became a real working trout farm. Armed with a degree in fish biology, Michalek installed ponds and European fishery technology, including circular cobblestone-lined streams of running water fed from underground springs. He knew that trout need cold, clean, highly oxygenated water to thrive, ThisWeek reported.

For a time, people could catch or pick out a trout at have it prepared at the club restaurant. A massive flood wiped out the trout business years ago, but the network of ponds and streams remain, although they are now clogged with silt. Dewey said he eventually plans to restore Michalek’s system and restock the streams with trout. About 400 fish are now confined to a large, crystal-clear, 10-foot deep pond at the rear of the property, ThisWeek reported.

Dewey, 45, said he knew two years ago that renovating and restoring the old club, with a closed pool and restaurant shuttered 14 years, would be daunting, unlike anything he had done before. He nearly threw in the towel after the fire, but decided to rebuild, ThisWeek reported.

He said Newark officials and county residents have been very supportive. Now he hopes to make a go of it. “It’s going to be a long-term thing,” Dewey said.