The kitchen appliances are polished and gleaming. The guest rooms have been meticulously prepared. The golf course is groomed to a green luster under blue spring skies.
The only thing missing at Honey Creek Resort is the guests.
But Mark Campbell, director of the Iowa Department of Administrative Services, said the lavish, state-owned resort, closed amid a contract-ending dispute with the company that had run it since 2023, will reopen in a matter of weeks for what he hopes will be a successful summer.
“Our plan is to have Honey Creek up and running as soon as possible. There were people that had reservations and plans for this summer,” Campbell said. The goal is to have the resort open by June 1 and its golf course even sooner.
“We definitely do not want to let them down and do the best we can for the people that have been coming year after year so they can continue to have the opportunity to enjoy this beautiful place,” he said. “Obviously, the state’s commitment continues to make this a true destination, and it really is.”
He said the department anticipates announcing the reopening schedule the week of May 10.
It is looking at several options, including having a separate management company operate the golf course. Several companies have expressed interest, Campbell said.
“We have offered that in two forms,” he said. “The concessionaire that is looking at the resort can also bid on the golf course, or we have allowed golf course-specific companies to come in and just run the golf course and bring somebody in that specifically deals with courses and bringing tournaments and play.”
The resort’s deteriorated water park ― at the center of the dispute that led to the closure and the termination of resort operator Achieva Enterprises after months of legal wrangling ― also will get attention. The company’s owners, Beth and Terry Henderson, wanted to remove it and install a miniature golf course. But the state objected and now says the water park will be restored by Associated Pools, the original contractor for the construction, with the work to be completed within three months.
Four companies already bidding to operate Honey Creek
The state is looking at a short-term initial agreement for resort operations, running from June 1 through February 2027, and will seek proposals for a long-term deal sometime in the fall, Campbell said.
Some of the potential operators expressed interest in seeing if Honey Creek can be marketed as “a Hallmark winter setting,” Campbell said explaining why the initial short-term agreement would go through the winter.
Seven potential operators have toured the facilities so far and four have submitted proposals, he said.
The resort has been a money loser for most of its 18 years. The economic viability of the resort and marketing studies will be up to the potential bidders, Campbell said.
“For any company, to come in and have the ability to market on Day One will be the challenge,” he said. “It’s going to take a company that has a history, has other properties that they can draw on, a company that can bring in groups and utilize the conference area.”
The marketing plans submitted by the bidders will be a large part of the scoring for the contract, he said.
“We’re going to take a look at that and see specifically what the companies bring in respect to the area that they cover,” he said. “We, obviously, would love to find a company that has a substantial footprint in the hospitality industry and the ability to get the marketing out as quickly as possible to get guests in the door.”
That would be in contrast to the Hendersons, who were first-time resort operators.
“It’s always been kind of a challenge,” Campbell said.
The resort is “absolutely viable,” Campbell said, echoing a statement by his predecessor, Adam Steen, in an interview with the Des Moines Register in October 2025. Steen had resigned the previous August to become a Republican candidate for governor.
Honey Creek features a 106-room lodge, 28 cabins, the indoor water park, the 18-hole championship golf course and a marina. It has been in limbo since last fall, when the state and Achieva had their falling out.
The state moved to terminate the contract and close the resort on Oct. 29, following an acrimonious phone conference with the Hendersons the previous week that ended with them threatening to close the facility.
The Hendersons took the state to court and won a temporary injunction, but then missed the judge’s March 12 deadline for reopening the resort, asserting that the state had failed to cooperate with them. The state denied the claim and the judge on April 7 vacated the injunction, clearing the way to seek a new operator.
Resort has big economic footprint in struggling southern Iowa
Tourism revenue generated by Iowa’s only resort park has a ripple effect through the local economy and when fully staffed, accounts for about 8% of employment in the area, according to Delaney Kruzik, executive director of PACT ― Promoting Appanoose and Centerville Together.
As a popular wedding venue, Honey Creek provides revenue to local businesses such as a men’s clothing store that rents tuxedos and a floral shop, said Kruzik, who once worked at the resort.
“Bottom line, Honey Creek is the difference between us having a solid, good economy versus having a great economy,” Kruzik said.
Development of the resort encapsulated several visions when first proposed. It aimed to bring people to a lesser-traveled part of the state that featured an underutilized resource in 11,000-acre Rathbun Lake, on whose shore it sits.
The project also was developed to provide an economic springboard to struggling southern Iowa. Appanoose County, home of Honey Creek, has among the highest poverty rates in the state.
The resort was envisioned to be “a gateway to the outdoors and natural resources” by providing opportunities for year-round outdoor recreation while still being able to enjoy amenities ― a vision Campbell said he still has for it.
But it never has reached its full potential, even after the Legislature authorized the payoff of its $33 million in construction bonds to give it a boost. A project launched by then-Gov. Tom Vilsack, it opened during the Great Recession and also took a hit during the COVID-19 pandemic, when it had to shut down for a time.
Campbell said that was a primary reason Delaware North, the operator before Achieva, ended its contract early and walked away.
“Our goal is to get the facility open as quickly as possible so people can come down and truly enjoy this beautiful destination,” he said. “Iowa’s continued investment and commitment to it shows in the beauty, and we’re excited to get people in the door.”
Kevin Baskins covers jobs and the economy for the Des Moines Register. Reach him at kbaskins@registermedia.com.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Honey Creek Resort eyes June return as state replaces operator
Reporting by Kevin Baskins, Des Moines Register / Des Moines Register
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
