Lake Erie's Newest Luxury Resort Opening Soon

Christian Edie and her husband, Kevin Cullen, were stand-up paddle boarding on Lake Erie, not far from their Western New York home when they saw it. 

It was just over three acres, a protected bay with cliffs on both sides. To the south, historic keystone bridges arched over Walnut Creek as bald eagles soared overhead. Once ashore, they strolled the sandbar peninsula and coves that spilled into Lake Erie, passing remnants of the Hideaway Bay Restaurant that once sat on this patch of paradise.  

“I’d never been there before,” says Cullen. “When I saw it from the water — the arches, the trees, all tucked behind a hill — it feels like you’re away from it all.”

Their first thought? “We have to do something here; this is special,” says Edie.

This June their dream will open as Hideaway Bay Resort, a four-season, eco-friendly resort in Silver Creek, New York, with luxury villas, a restaurant, spa and events center. The $2 million project came to fruition through multiple financing sources and private investors. Located 35 miles southwest of Buffalo, the boutique resort is set in the heart of Lake Erie Wine Country and less than an hour from both Niagara Falls and Lake Chautauqua.

But the resort feels like nothing you’ve ever seen on Lake Erie. 

Ten beachy-white villas dot the sand as if plucked straight from an exotic locale. Raised on stilts, the two-tiered villas offer rooftop verandas, perfect for unwinding under beach sunrises and sunsets. Inside the villas, rattan furnishings and cool coastal neutrals complete the cozy living space boasting a fireplace, two bedrooms and a kitchenette. Guests get private access to the beach with complimentary umbrellas and chairs, while luxe eight-person cabanas and two-person daybeds can be rented for the day.  

Just steps from the villas, guests can enjoy a two-story waterfront restaurant and spa. The spa will offer massages and treatments by appointment, plus a wood-fired sauna and hot tub. The resort’s restaurant will be open seven days a week, serving breakfast, lunch and dinner with sweeping views. Regional specialties that celebrate the seasons will make the menu alongside artisanal handhelds, pizza, seafood, steak and vegan options. The beach bar will have a limited, casual menu. 

Hideaway Bay Resort is eco-friendly inside and out. Their team completed a dune restoration project at the resort, complete with native flora plantings and a rain garden. Rooms will have eco-friendly sheets and bath products. The couple is working toward being the first hotel/resort in the Great Lakes to be certified as eco-friendly by the Surfrider Foundation. 

“Anything we do, like developing this property, it’s personally important to us to live in harmony with nature as opposed to just extracting from it,” says Cullen. 

Both New York natives, Edie and Cullen grew up playing on Lake Erie. Their careers as professional stand-up whitewater paddle boarders took them across the country and abroad. It was while teaching kiteboarding in Hawaii that they learned their son, Ocean, now 5, was on the way. Now with their second child, 3-year-old daughter Lake, they want to create a retreat for couples and families right here on Lake Erie. 

“We’ve done a lot of traveling to really incredible places with unique experiences,” says Edie.

“We want to offer that to people here. We both love Western New York.”

This water-loving couple plans to offer kiteboarding lessons, SUP and yoga paddleboarding, fishing and kayaking to start. Hideaway Bay Resort will offer adventure for landlubbers, too, like hiking, mountain biking and even ice climbing in the winter. Sport fishers can reel in bass and walleye from the lake, and the stream teems with steelhead trout from October through April.

“Literally steps from your door, just a 30-yard walk, you’ll find yourself at a world-class trout stream,” Cullen says.

Birders, meanwhile, will appreciate that the resort lies on a migratory bird path. Eco-paddle tours will guide guests into the sheltered creek to spy diverse waterfowl and bald eagles near the cliff. 

As big as Edie and Cullen are on protecting and enjoying nature, they want their resort to celebrate something else, too. 

“Christian and I got married not too far from here on a beach on Lake Erie,” says Cullen. “That moment really inspired this whole business.”

The resort will host weddings and receptions right on the beach, as well as beach proposal picnics, complete with candles and rose petals. Together, they look forward to sharing this piece of paradise.

“People that have been to our property say there’s nothing like it,” Cullen adds, “and they’re right.”

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