Margaritaville Investors Fell In Love With Lake Of The Ozarks The First Time They Visited

The year-and-a-half long project that will transform the iconic Tan-Tar-A resort into Margaritaville was a sure thing, as soon as investors visited Lake of the Ozarks.

Driftwood Acquisitions and Development discovered the Lake’s beauty and potential thanks to Tan-Tar-A’s parent company and former owner, CWCapital. Partners/investors fell in love with the lake and surrounding hills after CW invited Driftwood to be their guests at Tan-Tar-A earlier in 2017. Investors also saw the potential for the resort. In fact, according to Fred Dehner, Driftwood has exceeded the standard industry budget for reinvesting, in part because the company is so bullish on the resort’s potential.

The completion of the renovation will trigger the rebrand that will pair the popular Margaritaville resort brand with the historic and beloved Tan-Tar-A name. That project is expected to be complete in the spring of 2019, but already the resort's exterior has been given a fresh coat of paint in the colors of clean, warm sand and Caribbean blue. In the coming months, all guest rooms and meeting space will be updated and renovated. In fact, all the activities and amenities enjoyed by Tan-Tar-A’s customer base will receive the same treatment. These will become attractions for fans of Jimmy Buffett and his Margaritaville brand, often called "Parrotheads."

Buffett is not the sole investor in Margaritaville properties, but his hit song has come to epitomize the "casual-luxe" lifestyle that has brought the Margaritaville brand to nine resorts (and counting). Buffett retains a substantial investment share in each Margaritaville property, but other investors have worked to bring the unique brand and feel to locations from Key West to Pigeon Forge to Biloxi, and now, to Lake of the Ozarks.

Jason Whittle of RE/MAX Lake of the Ozarks said, “growth attracts growth” as he welcomed Sam Adler and Fred Dehner to the speaker’s table at the 10th Annual Real Estate Symposium. Adler, Development Director with The Staenberg Group, and Dehner, Tan-Tar-A’s General Manager since 2003, shared timelines for the two projects with which they are involved: Osage Beach Commons on Highway 54 near the Outlet Mall and Tan-Tar-A’s reincarnation as a Margaritaville property. Both projects are expected to bring even more growth to the lake region.

Adler reported Osage Beach Commons will result in 100,000 square-feet of retail space on Osage Beach Parkway. He suggested that retailers currently locating to and thriving in Columbia are some of the businesses that the Lake will attract, especially because the Lake is no longer just a destination for 100 days of summer fun.

Driftwood hopes to have ready a Land Shark Bar and Grill for the 2018 season. This new construction will necessitate the loss of four cabins and the auditorium as well as changes to the docks in order to make way for more parking and better access. The Black Bear Lodge restaurant will become J. B.’s Boathouse before the rebranding debuts in 2019.

Dehner said the sale of Tan-Tar-A and its future as a Margaritaville resort has generated a great deal of interest in home and estate sales on KK. He added that he and others at Lake of the Ozarks are bullish on the Turkey Bend area in particular and the entire Lake region generally, thanks in large measure to two major real estate developments due for completion in 2019.

Adler echoed Dehner’s optimism. Adler also offered a timeline for Osage Beach Commons that begins with the demolition of the Golden Door, currently projected to be completed in January 2018. In the second quarter of that year, the company will oversee dirt work for the development and later complete all horizontal work. Vertical construction should begin in 2019.

Adler and The Staenberg Group realize the lake is a year-round destination with great long-term potential. Its population and current green-lighted projects suggest to them that as many as 70 Missouri retailers could succeed here and attract even more businesses to what RE/MAX’s Jeff Krantz called the “undiscovered, untapped” promise of this rich area.