Oasis Developers Tangle With Timeshares In $350M Entertainment Project On Lake Of The Ozarks

LAKE OF THE OZARKS, Mo. — Along the path to the biggest development at Lake of the Ozarks in the past 20 years lies a surprising challenge for developers: you must buy 2,000 timeshares.

Blasting, excavation, the construction of a massive retaining wall: all have been on a very public stage alongside the Grand Glaize Bridge as developers continue to build a family-friendly entertainment district and hotel/conference center on Lake of the Ozarks.

video courtesy of Skyview Partners

However, behind the scenes, their attempt to purchase (and then demolish) the Lakewood Resort timeshare condos in the midst of the development area has resulted in a legal battle, with some timeshare owners joining developers in crying foul over the timeshare board’s behavior.

Oasis at Lakeport -- Usage Plan -- Map/Sketch

There are approximately 2,000 timeshare weeks at play, and the Lakewood Condominium Master Association, Inc. — incorporated in Missouri as a non-profit entity and governed by a board of directors — owns approximately 950 of them, according to a legal memorandum submitted by Husch Blackwell, LLP to the City of Osage Beach in late-November.

“[T]he Developer is working diligently to acquire title to the Lakewood Timeshares,” the law firm wrote. “While the Developer has made significant progress, its efforts have been hampered by logistical difficulties associated with identifying and contacting the numerous Lakewood Owners as well as unanticipated push-back from the Association.”

Deal Or No Deal?

According to Husch Blackwell, Developer Jeffrey Tegethoff, of the development company Lakeport Village LLC, had a virtual teleconference with the timeshare board’s president, vice-president, and then-acting-attorney for the association Jon Browning. Tegethoff told them on that call that he wanted to buy the timeshares and attend the association’s annual meeting to speak with the Lakewood owners.

Jeff Tegethoff at The Preserve Groundbreaking — Jeff Tegethoff speaks at a groundbreaking ceremony in March 2023 for The Preserve at Sycamore Creek, his apartment development in Osage Beach.
photo by Nathan Bechtold

After that conference-call, according to the letter, Tegethoff offered $4.5 million for Lakewood Resort, with a $100,000 allowance for costs related to closing and the sale. The board’s counteroffer: $8 million with a $2 million allowance.

At the board’s annual meeting, held less than a month after its meeting with Tegethoff, Husch Blackwell says the board told members there were no offers to purchase the resort. “The Board further misrepresented that the Board was only aware of the information available in the news and it did not invite the Developer to the Association’s annual meeting, despite the Developer’s willingness to attend,” the law firm stated.

Less than a week after that annual meeting, on April 4, 2023, Tegethoff sent a counter-offer of $6.25 million with a $200,000 cost allowance. That offer was rejected.

Then on April 19, 2023, Tegethoff sent a third offer, which matched the board’s initial reported counter-offer: $8 million, with a $2 million cost allowance.

On May 31, 2023, Husch Blackwell says the developer was informed that the offer had been rejected and the board was terminating discussions with the developer over the potential purchase.

Lakewood Timeshares — The Lakewood Resort timeshare condo complex stands in the midst of the planned development area for a new Lake of the Ozarks entertainment district. Photo date: March 2023.
photo by Nathan Bechtold

Buying Timeshares, One At A Time

In April, the developer started working with individual timeshare owners to purchase the approximately 1,110 timeshares held in separate ownership.

“Many of the record owners of the timeshare interests have passed away or transferred their interests, creating additional title issues and problems negotiating these purchases,” Husch Blackwell wrote. “The Developer has created a team of attorneys and other professionals dedicated to the acquisition efforts.”

In late-August, Husch Blackwell says the board sent a poll to Lakewood Owners, asking if they would like to sell their timeshares. “The results of that survey showed that 500 weeks participated in the survey and 66% of respondents intended to sell their timeshare weeks,” the law firm wrote.

Tegethoff told LakeExpo on Dec. 8 that, to date, his group had contacted approximately 822 owners and only 14 had said they were a "definite no." His group has now bought 189 timeshare weeks, with 166 weeks in escrow and 74 weeks pending a sales contract.

With more than 400 timeshare weeks purchased, Tegethoff's group “holds the largest voting power in comparison to the other Lakewood Owners,” the memorandum stated plainly.

“We believe there’s a path to continue to acquire,” he said, adding, “We have made an offer to the board for all 900 of their units… there’s been recent communication with their attorney.”

Tegethoff’s group has offered two different buyout opportunities to timeshare owners:

1) A deed exchange would allow current owners to exchange their timeshare for a comparable timeshare interest at Treetop Village on Horseshoe Bend. As part of that agreement, the developer would pay the first three years of maintenance fees on that timeshare, and after that, former Lakewood owners would have the option of relinquishing their timeshare interest without any fees that are sometimes incurred with selling timeshares. "Treetop is amazing," Tegethoff told LakeExpo, saying the Horseshoe Bend property has "a lot of things that Lakewood doesn’t have."

2) A flat purchase agreement of $4,000, in addition to paying any owed maintenance fees so that the owner is in good standing at the time of sale.

“Various Obstacles”

“Since the Redevelopment Agreement was entered, the Board has erected various obstacles to Developer’s attempts to purchase the timeshare interests,” Husch Blackwell documented. The board refused to provide member lists to the developer (which it is legally required to do). The developer sued, and on Oct. 6, 2023, a judge ruled the association must produce the member list by Oct. 13. On Oct. 13, the association complied and sent the list.

The developer says the board also stood in the way of the sale of 55 weeks, by exercising what it said was a Right of First Refusal that it possessed, in reference to the association’s bylaws. Some owners, trying to sell their timeshare weeks, were notified by the title company of the board’s actions, stalling the close of the sale.

The development group sued, arguing the board didn’t have that right. After deposing the board members in September, Husch Blackwell says the board agreed to release the timeshare weeks it had held in limbo through that process.

“They can’t hold it up anymore,” Tegethoff said in reference to that obstacle.

Some Lakewood owners said in the past, owners wanting to sell back to the Association were required to pay fees to the Board, Husch Blackwell reported. One owner wondered why, then, the association now had ability to pay the Lakewood owners in exercising its supposed right of first refusal, according to the memo.

A Way Forward

The board’s new legal counsel, Russ Cook with Lowther Johnson, did not respond to phone and email requests for comment for this article.

As a result of the ongoing difficulties in buying the timeshares, the developer has asked the city for an extension of the acquisition deadline (spelled out in the Redevelopment Agreement) to June 30, 2024.

Since reaching a settlement with the board in October, and since the board has gained new legal counsel, Tegethoff’s development group says it is “hopeful that communications with the Board can be more productive.”

As long as Tegethoff and company are able to acquire the timeshares by June, he says the project timeline will proceed uninterrupted. And in spite of the delays, he speaks with complete confidence regarding his eventual acquisition of Lakewood.

“It’s certainly not holding anything up, regarding the amusement park,” he said of the delays. “But it would certainly make things easier… this is ultimately gonna happen, so why delay it?”