"Pipe Dream" development?

[indy-guy]

Where do I start? How about I start with what I want to do…

I want to develop my land into a resort/water park. I’m thinking…a 100 room hotel with a small theatre and a restaurant/bar…a water park surrounding the hotel…maybe an ajoining campground…boat launches…etc… That’s what I want to do…

Here’s some background… Right now, I have 10 acres with 660+ feet of lakefront in North West Indiana. The community is largely residential. In the summer, the lake swells with recreational boating, fishing, camping, etc. Most of our tourism comes from Chicago.

Currently, the town is experiencing almost exponential growth. Farm fields are yielding crop production to new subdivision development. I think about 2,000 new homes in the past 5 years. Real Estate Developers are buying lakefront property and building condominiums.

This is my situation.

My land has 3 houses on it. I live in one of them, one of them is almost ready to be rented. and the last one needs to be gutted–plumbing, electrical, roofing etc. At best, the revenue generated by residential tenancy of the houses might pay the property taxes.

My land has an ingress/egress problem. My driveway is 16 feet wide and is about 200 yards long. It runs through another person’s property. I have an easement listed in the legal description of my property. This person has (less than a week ago) put up a fence across my driveway (more litigation to resolve the problem?) I may be able to buy a small tract of land from another party that would provide a wide enough driveway to extend to the main road.

My land is zoned as a park. I would have to get zoning changed to pursue any course of action–whether it is to develop my dream, or to provide housing.

I have worked in entertainment for the last 6 years, and I have traveled a lot! I have seen successful amusement/theme parks located in the middle of nowhere. I’ve seen how people swarm to the water parks at the Wisconsin Dells. I’ve seen how successful a small theatre in Chicago can be.

I was offered some money for my land recently. I could live comfortably for the rest of my life on what was offered. I would rather create a successful resort.

I don’t know how to make a resort. I don’t have the financial resources. Am I pursuing a “pipe dream”? Can anyone help?

[crusadercommercial]

Hi there Indy-Guy.
Yes, it’s a pipe dream, but then most great things in life began as pipe dreams and became reality. Does Disney ring a bell?
Read the story of Walt Disney, who was one of the greatest pipe dreamers of all time.

THe project you are speaking about is immense and will require a lot of up front expense. Everything from the appraisal, which in itself for a resort property could cost over 50,000 to blueprints and designs etc.

It sounds like you probably don’t have the kind of financial resources you would need to fund a project like this yourself.

Here are two possibilities to explore.

1- Sell the vision of the theme park to an investor and sell your property to them for a realistic profit, not some offer from someone looking to get a steal deal and then they create the park and winfall off of your land. This would give you a handsome profit but not the big bucks.

2- Invest some money into having plans developed for your park and then you have something to sit down at the table to show to an investor group. If you can make your dream come alive on paper including costs for development etc., you can make your pipe dream a reality.
You have the property and some money, they have the money and no property or dream.

I don’t know how big your park would be, but to give you some idea of costs for developing a mid sized park with rides and entertainment of various types etc., you could be looking at a figure in the range of $100,000,000. That in itself is not as much a problem finding funding for as is your problem of entry and egress.

You will have to do more than get the neighbor to accept the easement, you are going to need a much larger entrance.

You might have to purchase their property just to get the rights to the size you need, and don’t forget parking. You are going to need sufficient parking to accomodate all the visitors.

Good luck with your Pipe dream. You never know… You could be the next Walt Disney. It all started with a dream and a vision.

I would suggest you visit with some park owners and flatter them and compliment them and tell them that you want to know all about what got them started and take them to a great lunch. They love to talk about themselves and will tell you just about everythings about how they got started.

Talk to park developers and get an idea of what your upfront costs will be to first ge this project completed on paper. It can’t go anywhere until it is all on paper.

So… in essences, what I suggest is that you begin with research. You don’t have to re-invent the wheel… you just need to know how it was invented.

Go for it !

Jeff

[Easterbeach]

@crusadercommercial

Hi there Indy-Guy.
Yes, it’s a pipe dream, but then most great things in life began as pipe dreams and became reality. Does Disney ring a bell?
Read the story of Walt Disney, who was one of the greatest pipe dreamers of all time.

THe project you are speaking about is immense and will require a lot of up front expense. Everything from the appraisal, which in itself for a resort property could cost over 50,000 to blueprints and designs etc.

It sounds like you probably don’t have the kind of financial resources you would need to fund a project like this yourself.

Here are two possibilities to explore.

1- Sell the vision of the theme park to an investor and sell your property to them for a realistic profit, not some offer from someone looking to get a steal deal and then they create the park and winfall off of your land. This would give you a handsome profit but not the big bucks.

2- Invest some money into having plans developed for your park and then you have something to sit down at the table to show to an investor group. If you can make your dream come alive on paper including costs for development etc., you can make your pipe dream a reality.
You have the property and some money, they have the money and no property or dream.

I don’t know how big your park would be, but to give you some idea of costs for developing a mid sized park with rides and entertainment of various types etc., you could be looking at a figure in the range of $100,000,000. That in itself is not as much a problem finding funding for as is your problem of entry and egress.

You will have to do more than get the neighbor to accept the easement, you are going to need a much larger entrance.

You might have to purchase their property just to get the rights to the size you need, and don’t forget parking. You are going to need sufficient parking to accomodate all the visitors.

Good luck with your Pipe dream. You never know… You could be the next Walt Disney. It all started with a dream and a vision.

I would suggest you visit with some park owners and flatter them and compliment them and tell them that you want to know all about what got them started and take them to a great lunch. They love to talk about themselves and will tell you just about everythings about how they got started.

Talk to park developers and get an idea of what your upfront costs will be to first ge this project completed on paper. It can’t go anywhere until it is all on paper.

So… in essences, what I suggest is that you begin with research. You don’t have to re-invent the wheel… you just need to know how it was invented.

Go for it !

Jeff

[Easterbeach]

Hi there,

I think you have the right idea. I am a land developer with projects in Arizona, idaho and california and i will say this, you would be better off doing a JV with a smart developer than selling out. Let me explain the name of the game. Based on some quick calcs I believe including roads and the such you could get 65 homes on that parcel @ 5,000 sq ft lots. That’s leaving room for infrastructure. JV with a developer who will handle all the zoning and entitlement processes and architectural and engineering fee and you agree to subordiante your land to the bank for construction loans and development financing. Imagine you both agree your land as it sits is worth $1M. The developer incurs $1M in costs you get your money out of the lot sales first and then he gets his back and you split the rest 50/50. Say your lots are worth $200k each that equates to $13M- $2M ( $11M/2 = $5.5M each)

Good luck