Honey Creek Resort’s new managers have a vision to turn Iowa’s only state-owned resort, which has struggled financially, into a year-round destination and an economic engine for southern Iowa.
Achieva Enterprises, named the new concessionaire by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources in March, has hit the ground running with renovations since the resort reopened in April.
Over the next several years, operators Terry and Beth Henderson, longtime partners in Achieva, hope to transform the 841-acre resort from a hidden gem into a discovered treasure.
“Our vision for the resort is to become one of the preferred destinations — not only in the state, but in the region as well,” said Beth Henderson, Achieva president and CEO.
Doing that means tapping into several new sources of potential, they said.
With $2.7 million in proposed changes over the next six years, the new operators don’t plan to close the resort during the winter as long as they’re in charge.
The first order of business — moving from a season of four months to year-round operation — is key.
As they plan to move Honey Creek Resort toward privatization, they hope to more than double the average occupancy from under 30 percent to over 60 percent. The timeline for that privatization has not been articulated.
Many of the resort’s cabins and the 106-room lodge already have been repainted and remodeled to fix the wear and tear incurred since the resort opened in 2008.
Ninety-nine of the lodge’s rooms have been renamed after Iowa’s counties, with local chambers of commerce providing items to display in each room, making Iowa an organic part of the transformation.
Landscaping enhances the property’s abundant natural beauty around Rathbun Lake, one of Iowa’s largest freshwater recreational lakes. Soon, statues and art will be incorporated to tell the story of Iowa’s agricultural heritage.
Seasonal activities will offer experiences that give visitors a reason to come back, and a revision of the resort’s indoor water park offers a family-friendly amenity no matter the weather.
“We get to be a true destination … where you have experiences you can’t have anywhere else in Iowa,” said Achieva’s Beth Henderson, whose family has deep ties in the Centerville area.
The goal is to help people “understand what Iowa and the Midwest is all about,” she said.
The resort’s former nature center, long inactive and left to collect dust as a storage shed, has been rehabilitated into a two-level building.
The Depot on the lower level serves as a home base for the resort’s new “train” on wheels and horse-drawn carriages, as well as a general store with snacks, draft root beer floats and other treats.
Upstairs, the second level serves as a bourbon and fine wine bar for adults.
A former snack bar has been reopened, as well as the Coca-Cola Cove, themed in partnership with Atlantic Bottling Company. The resort’s on-site restaurant has become Prairie Rose, a farm-to-table steakhouse named after the state flower.
Fireplaces and fire pits have been added throughout the resort.
Excursions on the custom-made amusement train offer themed rides throughout the year on the property’s expansive trails. For the holiday season, it served as the Polar Express.
Horse-drawn carriages offer similar themed experiences with rides around the lake.
“You can go to (other amusement parks) and do amusement rides. But one thing you don’t get to see is the nature and wildlife,” said Terry Henderson, who drives the train from time to time. “I love to tell people not only about Iowa and its traditions, with the trains and what railroads have meant to us, but what agriculture means to us and the nation.”
Other plans outlined in the new management’s initial proposal include the construction of a new welcome center, spa, workout facility and small group pavilions.
Marketing the property through word-of-mouth will hinge on offering a “five-star” experience, the Hendersons said. Amenities have been upgraded and added with an eye to providing “a true resort experience.”
“We want to have it be the talk of Iowa, where Iowans are proud of this resort,” Beth Henderson said.
Terry Henderson, an Oklahoma native, has spent his life in agriculture and farming, including 13 years with Corteva Agriscience, formerly Dow AgroSciences.
Since the 1990s, the Hendersons have helped run Achieva, a company that provides technical training, government affairs and public affairs services to companies in the agriculture industry. Terry Henderson is now Achieva’s board president, Beth is its president and CEO.
The couple split their time between Iowa and Indiana. After buying property in Centerville in 2019, about 12 miles south of the resort, they had hoped to use the nearby resort’s facilities to host business clients in Iowa.
But with the resort being closed eight months each year and lacking other hospitality aspects, it was not up to snuff to house their clients, the Hendersons said.
After looking at surrounding counties and hearing about the state’s plan to hire a private contractor to run Honey Creek Resort, Beth Henderson put together a video envisioning what the resort could be.
The video, presented at a PACT Iowa (Promoting Appanoose & Centerville Together) meeting, caught Gov. Kim Reynolds’ eye. She asked the couple afterward if they would be interested in helping run the resort with plans to privatize it.
Though the Hendersons lacked tourism or resort management experience, they did have experience in public-private partnerships, having brought the national FFA convention from Kansas City, Mo., to Indianapolis in 1998.
Terry Henderson noted that the resort’s previous busy season was during the warmer months, when many Iowans are out in the fields. Winter months, when the industry is busy at meetings and conferences to plan for the future, are a great time to bring people in, he said.
“We understand what it takes to keep those people interested,” he said. “Rather than having them go down to Orlando, or out to Vegas, or to Colorado or the Caribbean, we want to keep them right here in the Midwest.”
But the new managers say the improvements don’t stop with renovations.
“We’re going to continue to never stand still,” Terry Henderson said. “We believe it’s not only the initial vision, but the addition to that initial vision.”
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Achieva Enterprises, named the new concessionaire by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources in March, has hit the ground running with renovations since the resort reopened in April.
Over the next several years, operators Terry and Beth Henderson, longtime partners in Achieva, hope to transform the 841-acre resort from a hidden gem into a discovered treasure.
“Our vision for the resort is to become one of the preferred destinations — not only in the state, but in the region as well,” said Beth Henderson, Achieva president and CEO.
Doing that means tapping into several new sources of potential, they said.
What they’re changing
With $2.7 million in proposed changes over the next six years, the new operators don’t plan to close the resort during the winter as long as they’re in charge.
The first order of business — moving from a season of four months to year-round operation — is key.
As they plan to move Honey Creek Resort toward privatization, they hope to more than double the average occupancy from under 30 percent to over 60 percent. The timeline for that privatization has not been articulated.
Many of the resort’s cabins and the 106-room lodge already have been repainted and remodeled to fix the wear and tear incurred since the resort opened in 2008.
Ninety-nine of the lodge’s rooms have been renamed after Iowa’s counties, with local chambers of commerce providing items to display in each room, making Iowa an organic part of the transformation.
Landscaping enhances the property’s abundant natural beauty around Rathbun Lake, one of Iowa’s largest freshwater recreational lakes. Soon, statues and art will be incorporated to tell the story of Iowa’s agricultural heritage.
Seasonal activities will offer experiences that give visitors a reason to come back, and a revision of the resort’s indoor water park offers a family-friendly amenity no matter the weather.
“We get to be a true destination … where you have experiences you can’t have anywhere else in Iowa,” said Achieva’s Beth Henderson, whose family has deep ties in the Centerville area.
The goal is to help people “understand what Iowa and the Midwest is all about,” she said.
And there’s more
The resort’s former nature center, long inactive and left to collect dust as a storage shed, has been rehabilitated into a two-level building.
The Depot on the lower level serves as a home base for the resort’s new “train” on wheels and horse-drawn carriages, as well as a general store with snacks, draft root beer floats and other treats.
Upstairs, the second level serves as a bourbon and fine wine bar for adults.
A former snack bar has been reopened, as well as the Coca-Cola Cove, themed in partnership with Atlantic Bottling Company. The resort’s on-site restaurant has become Prairie Rose, a farm-to-table steakhouse named after the state flower.
Fireplaces and fire pits have been added throughout the resort.
Excursions on the custom-made amusement train offer themed rides throughout the year on the property’s expansive trails. For the holiday season, it served as the Polar Express.
Horse-drawn carriages offer similar themed experiences with rides around the lake.
“You can go to (other amusement parks) and do amusement rides. But one thing you don’t get to see is the nature and wildlife,” said Terry Henderson, who drives the train from time to time. “I love to tell people not only about Iowa and its traditions, with the trains and what railroads have meant to us, but what agriculture means to us and the nation.”
Other plans outlined in the new management’s initial proposal include the construction of a new welcome center, spa, workout facility and small group pavilions.
Marketing the property through word-of-mouth will hinge on offering a “five-star” experience, the Hendersons said. Amenities have been upgraded and added with an eye to providing “a true resort experience.”
“We want to have it be the talk of Iowa, where Iowans are proud of this resort,” Beth Henderson said.
How it happened
Terry Henderson, an Oklahoma native, has spent his life in agriculture and farming, including 13 years with Corteva Agriscience, formerly Dow AgroSciences.
Since the 1990s, the Hendersons have helped run Achieva, a company that provides technical training, government affairs and public affairs services to companies in the agriculture industry. Terry Henderson is now Achieva’s board president, Beth is its president and CEO.
The couple split their time between Iowa and Indiana. After buying property in Centerville in 2019, about 12 miles south of the resort, they had hoped to use the nearby resort’s facilities to host business clients in Iowa.
But with the resort being closed eight months each year and lacking other hospitality aspects, it was not up to snuff to house their clients, the Hendersons said.
After looking at surrounding counties and hearing about the state’s plan to hire a private contractor to run Honey Creek Resort, Beth Henderson put together a video envisioning what the resort could be.
The video, presented at a PACT Iowa (Promoting Appanoose & Centerville Together) meeting, caught Gov. Kim Reynolds’ eye. She asked the couple afterward if they would be interested in helping run the resort with plans to privatize it.
Though the Hendersons lacked tourism or resort management experience, they did have experience in public-private partnerships, having brought the national FFA convention from Kansas City, Mo., to Indianapolis in 1998.
Terry Henderson noted that the resort’s previous busy season was during the warmer months, when many Iowans are out in the fields. Winter months, when the industry is busy at meetings and conferences to plan for the future, are a great time to bring people in, he said.
“We understand what it takes to keep those people interested,” he said. “Rather than having them go down to Orlando, or out to Vegas, or to Colorado or the Caribbean, we want to keep them right here in the Midwest.”
But the new managers say the improvements don’t stop with renovations.
“We’re going to continue to never stand still,” Terry Henderson said. “We believe it’s not only the initial vision, but the addition to that initial vision.”
Big changes underway at Honey Creek Resort in southern Iowa
The new managers of Honey Creek Resort in Moravia have a vision to turn the resort on one of Iowa’s largest recreational lakes into a year-round destination.
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