SPRING BAY — For a family vacation, Ben and Kris Desnoyers wanted to rough it — as long as it wasn’t too rough.
The couple sought to escape their suburban-Chicago home and expose their two teens to the great outdoors. They considered overnight camping, though a complete lack of experience prompted hesitation.
“We wanted to camp,” said a grinning Ben Desnoyers. “But we didn’t want to camp-camp.”
Kris Desnoyers had heard about “glamping” — an oxymoronic mashup of “glamorous” and “camping” — which somewhat compromises wilderness for comfort. Think of a state park with resort services.
From the Desnoyers’ dwelling in Tinley Park, she searched the internet and found few glamping possibilities in Illinois. But she spotted just what they were looking for in Sankoty Lakes Resort and Retreat, still under transformation around a former gravel pit on the edge of Spring Bay. After a recent serene night under a full moon, the Desnoyers stepped out of one of the 20 canvas tents — each decked out with modern amenities, to the tune of $55,000 apiece — to enjoy the mile-long trout stream bubbling by.
Scanning the tree line and reveling in the quietude, she gushed, “It’s absolutely gorgeous.”
It’s also absolutely impressive, a giant crater quickly being groomed into a tourism destination by KDB Development Group, the force behind rejuvenating and repurposing multiple sites and buildings in the Peoria area. Its chairman, entrepreneur and philanthropist Kim Blickenstaff, is especially fond of his native Spring Bay, an old fishing town with 500 residents and precious little commerce. The resort, a vacant expanse just 15 months ago, has begun to see paying visitors, thanks to glamping.
Also: Man ends year of daily hymns with Facebook Live concert from a Peoria church
“It’s the biggest development in the history of Spring Bay,” said Greg Birkland, CEO of KDB.
At 1583 Spring Bay Road, the 220-acre endeavor revolves around a former gravel pit. Not long ago, Dwayne Atherton thought the pit would thrive as a supplier of materials for Caterpillar’s Inc.’s $1 billion revamp of its world headquarters and Downtown Peoria. But after the company decided to put its HQ in Deerfield, Atherton had little more than a hole in the ground.
But now Atherton and the gravel pit are part of a project that has involved an investment of $10.4 million so far. About $5.4 million has gone for property, with the rest spent on infrastructure: the resort’s roads, bridges, tents, cabins, lakes and other offerings.
(Another $6.8 million has been spent for other, nearby properties – a total of 340 acres refashioned and redubbed as The 840 Ranch and Sankoty at Crow Creek – offering hunting, fishing and other outdoor recreation.)
At Sankoty Lakes Resort, many planned amenities are slated to unfold over the next few years. Some remain only on paper, such as a zipline stretching over the site, a boutique hotel standing seven stories and a brewery featuring an in-cave tasting room.
Others, though, are underway, with legions of workers and tractors moving and shaping the landscape every workday. A restaurant — the Woolly Bugger, named after an artificial bait used in fly fishing – will be helmed by renowned area chef Josh Lanning and is set to open within weeks. Nearby, a wading pool and beach will be rimmed with cabanas, while an adjacent, 75-foot-deep lake will allow fishing, boating and swimming. Camp Dallas will serve at-risk youth, who soon will aid in its construction. Brush is being cleared so hiking trails can push through timber alongside the Illinois River, home to pileated woodpeckers and other winged creatures favored by birdwatchers.
Many of those amenities will be available on day passes that can be bought for as little as $5 by visitors not staying overnight. However, the restaurant – in its newness, a rarity in Woodford County – will be free to access by non-guests. Right now, though, those offerings have no definite grand opening.
But since late March, customers have been trickling in for glamping. Each tent – rates start at $500 for two nights for the smallest setups — cloaks an interior outfitted with a shower, toilet, kitchen and TV that easily outclass those of economy motels.
Smaller tents measure about 30 by 25 feet, with room for five visitors: two in a king-size bed, two in bunks and one in a roll-out couch. Larger tents can accommodate seven guests. Some are ringed with concrete sidewalks to allow easy wheelchair access.
The tents are not only temperature-controlled but also boast wifi. However, amid such modern conveniences, one step outside brings an explosion of sights and sounds of nature.
Nonetheless, en route to Spring Bay, Ben Desnoyers wondered if the trip would appeal to their kids, pondering to himself, “How do I get their noses away from their phones?” Yet after arriving, the teens seemed awestruck at the surroundings.
Read this: Pritzker unveils revamped COVID-19 reopening plan for Illinois with expanded capacity limits
“I hear the sounds of the outdoors!” one chirped.
Sankoty Lakes glampers seem especially taken by the trout stream running just out front of the tents. The waterway is powered by a pump system that essentially pushes water along a mile-long circuit from one end of a lake to the other. The water stays between 50 and 65, meaning non-native trout continuously thrive while anglers can attempt fly fishing in any element. On a recent day, several children squealed as one snagged a golden trout, which summarily (per resort policy) was released back into the stream, free to chomp onto another hook.
Though the stream isn’t natural, its creation was. The stream bed was formed with blue clay harvested from a long vein pushing through the property. In fact, much of the resort project involves taking natural resources in one place and using them in another, CEO Birkland said.
As reservations gradually pop up for spring glamping, Birkland has no worries that the tents will be filled. Through no marketing except Facebook, he has been deluged by information requests, meantime creating an email list of 5,000 possible visitors, he said. That’s why he already has installed plumbing and electrical hookups for another 25 tents.
Meanwhile, some of those contacts have come from parties interested in perhaps trying a similar gravel-pit project elsewhere.
“We’re kind of the guinea pig,” Birkland said with a chuckle. “This is a great test site for other gravel pits that have gone under or are being underutilized.”
Spinoff investment also might occur locally. KDB already has self-imposed what Birkland calls a 2-percent “tax” on income. That levy will be handed over to Spring Bay for infrastructure improvements, as the village has no sales tax.
For that matter, the village has almost no sales. The business district essentially consists of an ice cream shack, now shuttered but pending a reopening. Spring Bay Mayor Dave Tilley expects an economic boost from the resort.
“Spring Bay has had no economic development in the last 40 years,” said Tilley, serving his first term. “This is the biggest development in the history of Spring Bay. It means jobs. It means pride.
More: Blickenstaff plugging away at 12 development projects in Peoria Heights area. Here’s the list
“And it’s an anchor for other jobs to come to Spring Bay.”
Birkland sees KDB as a mini-incubator of businesses, poised to offer assistance to the right entrepreneurs. For instance, there is talk of a Corvette museum in Spring Bay, while the marina there could be bolstered to allow dockings of the Spirit of Peoria.
Those opportunities excite Birkland. With glampers rolling in, his eyes twinkled as he scanned the resort terrain. He gestured toward a hill that soon is to be leveled to make way for more construction.
“This will be changed,” he said. He paused, then smiled and added, “There’s so much that will be changed.”
Phil Luciano is a Journal Star columnist. He can be reached at pluciano@pjstar.com and (309) 686-3155. Follow him on Facebook and Twitter.
Credit: Source link
