CONNEAUT - - Two out-of-town-groups, including a Cleveland area school, are interested in acquiring Conneaut's historic harbor lighthouse, federal officials said this week.

Representatives of both groups will be invited to tour the old lighthouse and pursue the application process, said David Wilkinson, spokesman for the General Services Administration.

Earlier this year, the GSA announced it was ready to part company with the lighthouse, which started construction in 1935 and completed in 1936. Non-profit organization would get first crack at the beacon, and letters were encouraged before Monday's deadline.

Two letters of interest were received, Wilkinson said. One was submitted by Yeshivas Doresh, a Jewish education program for teenagers based in Cleveland Heights; the other from the Army and Navy Union Garrison in Marion.

According to their letters, Yeshivas would like to use the lighthouse to educate special needs students, while the garrison believes the beacon provides an opportunity for members to display their restorative talents, Wilkinson said.

Tours of the lighthouse will be conducted later this month, and the candidates will receive detailed applications. The groups will be asked to detail their construction plans for the lighthouse and identify how they plan to pay for the work.

Applications will be delivered to the National Park Service, the agency in charge of disposing of America's old lighthouses, Wilkinson said. If the NPS likes what they read, they will recommend an application and then pass the paperwork to the Department of the Interior, which in turn will authorize the GSA to convey the property.

The GSA is the real estate management agency for the federal government, Wilkinson said.

While it's possible the procedure could be concluded within six months, more often the process takes 28 months to two years to complete, Wilkinson said. Applications are often returned to the candidate for additional information, he said.

"Typically, a completed application may run more than 100 pages," Wilkinson said.

The lighthouse, under the care of the Coast Guard, was automated in 1971.

- - MARK TODD - Staff Writer

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