The roller coaster ride that has been Honey Creek Resort State Park is once again on a downward slope.
The Iowa Department of Administrative Services says it ended its business relationship with Achieva Enterprises, the firm that took over management of the resort in 2023, on Wednesday, Oct. 29. The resort is now closed.
On Rathbun Lake near Moravia in Appanoose County, it opened in 2008 and features a 106-room lodge, 28 cabins and an indoor waterpark, 18-hole championship golf course and marina.
The Department of Administrative Sevices said in a news release it is seeking a new resort manager, with plans to reopen the park in 2026.
“The department is excited for the future of Honey Creek Resort and its continued role in bringing visitors to southeast Iowa in the coming weeks,” it said in its statement.
Meanwhile, pending reservations for the park’s accommodations have been canceled.
The possibility of selling the resort, which rarely has been profitable, has been discussed over the years, and it was mentioned as an option in the state’s recently released Department of Government Efficiency report. But such a move is complicated by the fact that Honey Creek sits on the federally owned shore of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers lake, which blocks its sale to any private entity.
The department said it is committed to the preservation and maintenance of the resort property.
Terry and Beth Henderson, the owners of Achieva Enterprises, did not respond to requests for comment on the decision to end their contract to manage the resort, which they told the Register in 2023 they were confident could turn a profit.
While running the resort, Achieva had initiated renovations of the Lodge’s guest rooms and the park’s cabins as well as adding a general store and bourbon bar and making improvements to the Prairie Rose restaurant, according to the Ottumwa Courier.
In a May 2025 interview, Beth Henderson said the resort had required extensive repairs when they assumed control. A state-commissioned engineering report from 2020 said the needed work, some of it urgent, would cost millions.
“When we got it, it was the Titanic,” Henderon said. “It was a sinking ship, and we were expected to keep sailing this ship with all the holes in it.”
Ex-department head says COVID-19 brought on resort’s recent woes
Adam Steen, who headed the Department of Administrative Services at the time Achieva took control of the resort, said he did not believe Honey Creek was in rundown condition.
“As a state, we did a very good job of making sure that the resort was in good condition, so I do not agree with the comment that, you know, the place was a sinking ship. I mean, there was some stuff that needed to be done, and we executed on a lot of those projects,” said Steen, who is now seeking the Republican nomination for governor.
Envisioned as the result of a drive for state resort parks then-Gov. Tom Vilsack launched in 2000, the $60 million Honey Creek Resort was funded in large part by tax-exempt state bonds. But the project never became the premier Iowa vacation spot envisioned by state leaders. The Legislature spent another $33 million to pay off the outstanding bonds before turning Honey Creek’s management over to Delaware North Cos. in June 2016.
Under a contract, Delaware North was supposed to pay the state a portion of its profits after Honey Creek’s annual revenues hit $7 million. With the resort’s debt paid off, the Iowa Department of Natural Resources projected the deal could be worth millions to the state.
But Honey Creek’s revenues and occupancy never achieved that level, information from the agency showed, and plunged after the COVID-19 pandemic began in 2020.
“I think COVID had an impact on them,” Steen said. “COVID came along and then it, just like every business, had several challenges that they had to overcome and ultimately they didn’t feel the margin was worth the squeeze, basically, to stay within the contract, so they just executed the out clause. It was just a business decision.”
Building Honey Creek on federal land ‘a gigantic mistake’
Steen said the biggest drawback of the Honey Creek project was building it on land leased from the Army Corps of Engineers.
“From a business standpoint, from my perspective, building state buildings on top of federal ground was a gigantic mistake,” he said.
In addition to restricting the sale of the property, Steen said, the lease with the Corps includes a clause requiring that if the land ceases to be used as a resort, it must be restored to its original, natural state ― meaning the lodge and other facilities would have to be demolished.
Despite the challenges that have come with Honey Creek, he said that as someone familiar with its finances, he still believes the resort can be a viable asset for Iowa.
The key, he said, will be to find a concessionaire who can effectively market the hotel facilities, adding that the cabins at Honey Creek have consistently been filled.
“This project was probably poorly structured and it doesn’t mean it can’t be fixed,” he said. “There are solutions down there because I believe the resort, just looking at the financials, can make it but what you need is proper stewardship from a concessionaire perspective.
“You need proper oversight from the state and you need to just trust in the local people that they’re going to take advantage of the opportunity they’ve got down there because there’s a bunch of very good business minds in Appanoose County,” he said. “I had a chance to meet with a lot of them and I I do believe that there is a solution here that’s going to benefit not just Appanoose County and and southeast Iowa but also the entire state of Iowa.”
This article has been edited to correct how the contract relationship with Achieva Enterprises for management of Honey Creek resort ended.
Staff writer Lee Rood contributed to this article.
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: Long-troubled Honey Creek Resort closes for now as latest operator dismissed
Reporting by Kevin Baskins, Des Moines Register / Des Moines Register
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