BUSINESS JOURNAL

Historic Okoboji resort up for auction, eBay style

The Inn at Okoboji was first built in 1896 and remains an active resort on West Lake Okoboji.

Jeremy Fugleberg
Argus Leader

 

An exterior view of The Inn at Okoboji, a historic 155-room, shorefront resort and convention center going up for auction in September.

A historic shorefront resort and convention center in the northwest Iowa resort town of Okoboji is going on the auction block next month, with a twist.

The agency auctioning off the Inn at Okoboji will list the current high bid (but not the bidder) online, for all to see. After a two-week period, the online auction will close, and the bidders will be called by phone, round-robin style, until only one remains.

 

"There’s a whole lot of anonymity to it, and a lot of people like that," said Jon Hjelm, of The Acre Co., the agency auctioning the hotel on behalf of six banks that own it. "It’s a little more relaxed and a whole different atmosphere than a public auction."

The Inn at Okoboji sits on 82 acres and consists of 33 buildings housing 155 rooms and suites and 11 conference and event facilities. 

The resort includes a restaurant and lounge, general store, indoor and outdoor pools and a nine-hole, par-3 golf course with a driving range. The resort sits on 359 feet of shorefront on West Lake Okoboji and has two boat docks with 12 slips.

The hotel has a long pedigree in the resort town. In 1896, J.A Beck built a 24-room hotel on the site on the lake's east shore to catch cool southerly breezes sweeping across lake. 

An aerial view of The Inn at Okoboji, a 155-room, historic, shorefront resort and convention center going up for auction in September.

An 1898 advertising brochure stated that "people familiar with the beautiful sand and pebble beach, and the facilities with bathing and the very choice surroundings, the way of shade and pretty lawn, will not need to be told that The Inn will afford an ideal place for rest and recreation. Rates for room and board will range between the moderate sums of $7 and $12 per week."

The hotel survived a 1934 fire and was renamed the Grand Hotel of Lake Okoboji. It was razed in 1955 and replaced with the New Inn Resort Complex, which was restored in 1999. 

"It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity," Hjelm said.

For more information about The Inn at Okoboji, see the bid package at www.theinnokoboji.com, or call Hjelm at 712-240-3529.