Moose Leave Lakeland Village

The Moose are moving out of Lakeland Village after being stabled there for nearly 46 years.

Moose Lodge #1021 shuttered its 18665 Grand Avenue locale Aug. 3 and is headed for greener pastures in Lake Elsinore.

The 280-member strong organization has signed a 5-year lease for a 3,420-square foot location at 32391 Riverside Drive in the Seers Plaza Commercial Center, according to Richard Christie, administrator for #1021

On Sept. 20, the Lake Elsinore Planning Commission voted 4-0 to approve a conditional use permit for the new location.

The approval signals the end of a historical journey at the Lakeland Village location.

According to Richard Christie, administrator for #1021, the county bought the dilapidated Grand Avenue location from the Moose under a program designed to rescue distressed properties.

“We were going to lose it,” Christie said, noting that the property was condemned and not up to current code.

“We also had some back tax issues,” he added. “We’re very fortunate the county stepped in.”

Lodge #1021 is part of Moose International, a fraternal club that dates back to the 19th Century.

“Though the Moose fraternal organization was founded in the late 1800s with the modest goal of offering men an opportunity to gather socially, it was reinvented during the first decade of the 20th century into an organizational dynamo of men and women who set out to … brighten the futures of thousands of children in need all across North America,” according to the Moose International website.

“We are a charity-based organization,” Christie explained.

Christie said #1021 members hope to have the new Riverside Drive location open by November, but the lodge is waiting on its liquor license to be transferred to the Lake Elsinore address.

“We need that in order to reopen,” he said, noting that, in addition to membership dues, lodge revenues are driven by food and alcohol sales.

“We need to make sure we can pay the bills,” he said.

The 2.66-acre former lodge site on Grand Avenue is now closed. According to Christie, the county plans to use the property to house school busses.