Cragun’s Resort on Gull Lake, Madden’s on Gull Lake, Grand View Lodge Golf Resort and Spa, and Kavanaugh’s Sylvan Lake Resort have all recovered and reopened in time for Memorial Day festivities after the supercell storm felled trees and caused extensive damage to the facilities last year.
There may be a lot fewer trees around Gull Lake in Brainerd, Minn., but resorts are repaired and ready to go after microbursts last summer left the facilities devastated, the St. Paul, Minn., Pioneer Press reported.
On July 12, a supercell storm—a Category 2 hurricane-style storm with extreme winds—caused extensive damage to homes and buildings, snapping and uprooting trees, causing a near-total loss of power for days to weeks. In Crow Wing County, the economic revenue resort loss resulted in $15 million to $25 million in loss and damages, the Press reported.
This Memorial Day weekend the resorts—Cragun’s Resort and Madden’s, both of Gull Lake, and Grand View Lodge Golf Resort and Spa in Nisswa, Minn.—have gotten back on their feet after the storm and are ready to reopen, the Press reported.
“We will have our busiest Memorial Day weekend in our history,” Grand View General Manager Mark Ronnei said Thursday in anticipation of the kickoff to summer weekend. “We are just finishing the last of our roofing projects on the pool building and we have a few miscellaneous things to do, but other than some trees that are missing, we are back in business completely and have had no problems. Everything is going great.”
The resort is celebrating its 100th anniversary and has a lot planned. Ronnei said the resort will be busy this summer. “We can see the lake a little better now from Grand View,” Ronnei said. “There is more of a grand view than there has been. There is a silver lining to every storm cloud.”
Grand View had in excess of $1 million in damages to the resort buildings and property. There was roof damage from trees falling on structures and thousands of trees were lost, including 350 trees just in the golf course, the Press reported.
“The golfers are not complaining,” Ronnei said of having less trees on the golf course. “It is still beautiful and maybe a little easier, a more forgiving (course).”
At the three resorts, the supercell destroyed an estimated 50 vehicles, 10,000 trees and 100 accommodation units; multiple conference centers and common buildings were damaged or destroyed. The resorts had to close their golf courses, some for two weeks. Resorts estimated a loss of up to $15,000 per course per day last summer. Last summer, thousands of rooms were without power for a few days, hundreds of rooms closed for 10 days and some rooms closed permanently until the resorts were able to make repairs, the Press reported.
Madden’s on Gull Lake invested around $15 million into the construction and rebuilding process of the resort after the storm. The contractors of the project, Nor-Son, Inc. and Baratto Brothers Construction in the Brainerd lakes area, worked to ensure all buildings would be reopened for the 2016 season, the Press reported.
“Thankfully we are ready to go,” Abbey Pieper, vice president of Madden’s, said. “We completed the last overall project last Friday.”
Ever since the storm, Madden’s entire team has worked hard to rebuild the property and its amenities. A bulk of the damage occurred on the west side, and about 40% of the property is brand new construction, the Press reported.
Madden’s built 36 Voyageur guest rooms; 40 new Wilson Bay guest rooms; five new Wilson Bay cabins; a new Wilson Bay Lodge private event facility 22,000 sq. ft. in size, a space for weddings, corporate meetings and banquets; and a renovated spa and 19th hole bar and grill. Madden’s also reconstructed 49 guest rooms, the Press reported.
“(The storm aftermath) was tough,” Pieper said. “I won’t deny that. The storm didn’t miss us by any stretch, but I count it as a blessing, as there is a lot of silver lining with this.”
Madden’s had thousands of trees down, but on the positive side, it has offered more landscaping opportunities for the resort to include more gardens and more stunning views of Gull Lake, Pieper said.
“We couldn’t be more thrilled about our new spaces. It’s been exciting to market and we have seen a tremendous response from people. People are calling and wanting to stay in our new rooms and we are going to keep this excitement going. We’re seeing an uptick this Memorial Day weekend.”
Madden’s unveiled its new construction via Facebook at on Tuesday. Pieper conducted a live tour of the new space, the Press reported.
Cragun’s Resort had to replace 66 roofs and fix the superficial damage of several of its cabins, but the resort “looks beautiful,” said marketing spokesperson Nancy Krasean. “We are very busy this weekend and a lot of people are coming back this summer.”
Krasean said it was a long two weeks last July, but the resort has been busy ever since getting it back up to par. She said the trees have been cleaned up, grass has been replanted and the golf course is in “beautiful shape.” Cragun’s lost thousands of trees, the resort was without power and guests were forced to evacuate when the storm hit, the Press reported.
Kavanaugh’s Sylvan Lake Resort also is ready to go for the big summer kick-off weekend. Tom Kavanaugh, co-owner of the family-owned resort, said they are looking forward to the weekend as they also will have their best Memorial Day weekend, as they are booked at 100%, the Press reported.
Kavanaugh said the resort was not hit as hard the other resorts from last July’s storm. The resort had about 200 trees down and there was minor structural damage, such as roof and cosmetic damages, the Press reported.
“We were the only resort that didn’t shut down after the storm,” Kavanaugh said. “We probably should have, but we didn’t. We spent about seven or eight days cleaning up, removing trees.
“We were fortunate. Our guests won’t notice anything different on the property. We are looking good.”
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