An Indiana County businessman emerged Thursday with the top offer for a former 1,600-bed prison three years after the state closed the Cambria County lockup.

Carl Weaver of Smicksburg, who owns gas wells and saw mills, placed a $600,000 winning bid for the former SCI Cresson and its 326-acre site, state officials said. Weaver said he has not decided what he will do with the property.

“But the timber helped set the price,” he said.

Weaver has 15 days to sign a sales agreement to finalize the deal, Department of General Services spokesman Troy Thompson said.

He was among four bidders competing to buy the facility that includes 40 buildings on a sprawling, forested site at the top of Cresson Mountain, 60 miles east of here.

A previous attempt to sell the prison failed when no bidders met a $730,000 minimum bid price. The state subsequently dropped the minimum bid to $500,000.

Other bidders were: RCVV of Steubenville, Ohio, which offered $555,000; Environmental Process Solutions of McKeesport, $506,000; and Asif Kunwar of Newark, Del., $500,000.

The Department of Corrections closed Cresson and a 900-bed prison in Hempfield in 2013 and opened a prison in Centre County as part of what was described as a cost-cutting plan.

State and local officials lamented the prison closings, saying they eliminated more than 800 jobs.

A Carlisle businessman bought the 96-acre, 900-bed Hempfield facility for $950,000 in 2015 and has proposed developing a full-service veterans center.

Debra Erdley is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach her at 412-320-7996 or derdley@tribweb.com.

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