Another Major Hotel On Lake Of The Ozarks? Oasis Developer Hints At Big Plans

LAKE OF THE OZARKS, Mo. — The developer of Oasis at Lakeport — the $400 million entertainment complex and Marriott hotel/conference center set to open Phase 1 in 2025 — says he’s planning another major hotel on the Lake, and he’s got an infamous spot under contract.

Jeff Tegethoff shared with LakeExpo that his investment team has a contract to purchase a 33-acre spot off Passover Road: it’s the spot where once upon a time, famed hotel developer John Q. Hammons intended to build a 15-story, 320-room luxury hotel.

That was nearly 20 years ago; Hammons’ dream fell victim to a lawsuit, his ailing health, and the economic downturn.

Tegethoff says his team's plans are still very preliminary, but he anticipates a flagged (major brand) hotel with somewhere between 220 – 250 rooms. The catalyst, he says, is the massive interest generated by the development of Oasis at Lakeport: Tegethoff confirmed dozens of conferences have already been booked at the hotel, though it won’t be open until 2026.

Many of the organizations interested in holding conventions at the Lake want to do so at a flagged hotel, he said, but the Marriott planned for the Oasis will not have enough rooms to accommodate some groups. That hotel is slated to have 402 rooms, with a 30,000-square-foot conference space. “It’s amazing how many conference groups we’re getting reaching out to us that are too big for our current place,” Tegethoff confided.

So, his group made a move. The 33-acre, undeveloped waterfront site is ideal, as it sits only about a mile from the Oasis project.

New Hotel Site In Relationship With Oasis At Lakeport — photo by Lake Shots Photography, 2019

With the old Hammons site under contract, Tegethoff’s group will begin the early stages of planning: feasibility studies, cost analysis, potential entertainment components (“an outdoor adventure park, perhaps…” he hinted). The earliest they’ll close on the site is this fall, he said. Meanwhile, they’ll also look into the status of the Tax Increment Financing (TIF) plan that was long-ago approved for the site… the same TIF that spelled the demise of John Q. Hammons’ plans.

Hammons announced his intention to build a hotel in 2007, ten years after the completion of his Chateau on the Lake Resort in Branson, overlooking Table Rock Lake.

Chateau on the Lake -- rendering from 2007 — A 2007 rendering of John Q. Hammons' "Chateau On The Lake" that never came to fruition, on Lake of the Ozarks.

The City of Osage Beach approved a TIF for the site in December of that year, but the project stalled out after a lawsuit, filed by the owners of the Lodge of Four Seasons, argued the “blighted” designation given to the property was inappropriate. That lawsuit, filed the day after the TIF was issued in 2007, was finally resolved in 2010, with Senior Judge B.C. Drumm Jr. issuing a declaratory judgment, dated March 8, 2010. Judge Drumm Jr.’s judgment upheld the constitutionality of the decision made by the City of Osage Beach to extend the TIF to Hammons.

With the legal battle over, Hammons quickly confirmed his plans to proceed with the development, with a target open date in 2012. But the 91-year-old fell ill later that year and passed away in 2013. As a result, the plans for a Lake of the Ozarks hotel were shelved.

The site sat quiet for a decade.

Now, Tegethoff says, if all goes well, a hotel off Passover Road may again be on the horizon.