Owners see a resort in Saylorville Lake’s future
The Saylorville Lake Marina already looks a lot different than it did last fall, with all new docks, a new storage building and remodeling throughout the grounds, and its owners say these improvements are only the beginning.
As the marina’s overhaul nears completion, owners Dan and Tammy Stanbrough are planning the next round of construction, and hope within the next three to four years to transform the area by adding resort-style amenities such as a pool, tennis courts and motel.
“In the past, this has been called a marina, but in the future, we think it could be called Saylorville Lake Resort and Marina,” Dan Stanbrough said. “We want to end up with a resort to utilize the lake access here for more than just putting your boat in and boating.”
Any construction on the 140 acres of land and harbor the Stanbroughs lease from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers must be approved by the Corps’ Rock Island district office, which oversees the reservoir, according to Ron Fournier, a spokesman for the district. Fournier said getting approval can be an involved process, and if the Stanbroughs want to lease more land from the government for the project, which Dan Stanbrough said would be the case, it would take even longer.
“When there’s large-scale construction around a reservoir, the public can be very vocal about it,” Fournier said. “[The Army Corps of Engineers looks] at the environmental and social impacts the project would have on the surrounding area, and the public’s input is taken into consideration with our decision. But it wouldn’t be unheard of for us to grant that permission.”
Thinking big
The Stanbroughs said it was natural for them to contemplate transforming the marina into a resort. Before Tammy Stanbrough moved to Iowa about six and a half years ago, she held management roles with resorts in Florida, overseeing recreation and fitness. Dan Stanbrough, a local developer, has both business and personal reasons for wanting to see a new marina/resort take shape.
“As a developer, I see a lot of opportunities with this project, and as someone who has lived here all my life, I see this as a way to bring more recreation and tourism opportunities into the state,” he said. “I see recreation is an important component to keeping young people here.”
The Stanbroughs partnered with other investors last spring to buy the marina and took possession of it last fall. Since then, the Stanbroughs have bought out the other investors’ shares, with the exception of one, David Aschoff, who plans to sell his stake as well by the end of the year. Dan Stanbrough said he and Tammy decided to spearhead the project because they recognized its potential for the future.
“There were five of us involved in purchasing the marina, and we all had different ideas about what to do with it,” Stanbrough said. “Tammy and I had long-range plans for it.”
“This is a nice diamond in the rough waiting to be discovered,” Tammy Stanbrough said.
First impressions
Last fall, the Stanbroughs wasted no time putting crews to the work. Some construction is still in progress, with many finishing touches planned in the next 30 days.
“We literally have construction crews falling over each other to get the work done,” Dan Stanbrough said. “But we have the new slips and docks ready, which was our first priority.”
The new dock system is built from commercial steel with a stone surface. In addition to being more sturdy and safe than the old wooden docks, an important feature of the new system is that the docks can be raised up to 60 feet to accommodate rising water levels. When the Corps of Engineers raises the water level, a giant wench raises the dock system in a matter of about an hour and a half.
About 20 percent of Saylorville Lake Marina’s 369 new slips are covered. Previously, none of the slips were covered, and with the new service, Dan Stanbrough said he has seen several boaters who had taken their vessels to lakes in Minnesota, Missouri or Wisconsin return to Saylorville.
“The marina industry will tell you that if you build nicer slips, you will attract nicer boats,” he said. “It’s just a natural evolution. We’re hoping the covered slips really catch on. The more cover we can do, the more it allows people with large boats to have a place to store them. We are seeing bigger and bigger boats. We have a few 50-foot cruisers, and someone is talking about buying a 102-foot houseboat.”
Last boating season, before the new slips were installed, Dan Stanbrough said only about half of the slips were rented out for the season. Now, only four of the marina’s 369 slips are not rented out for the season, and those may be kept open for use by boat dealers.
“We have a waiting list for 24-footers, so we’re looking at possibly adding 200 more slips in the fall for next year,” Tammy Stanbrough said.
Terri Walker of Johnston and her husband have rented a slip at the marina since 1993, and she is pleased with the new ones this year.
“The docks used to be very noisy and unsteady,” she said. “You couldn’t walk up them without everyone hearing them creaking as you came. Now, it’s very quiet and calming here at night.”
Walker said the boardwalk area, which is illuminated along with the docks at night, greatly improves patrons’ ability to get from one dock to another.
“During high water, we used to have to take a boat from one dock to another,” she said. “It’s nice to be able to walk around the dock system now, and it looks really neat at night with the docks and the water lit up.”
Enterprise and energy
Nightlife at the marina is also changing in other ways. The Harbor Grille, a restaurant located on the water adjacent to the docks, will double in size in the next two weeks. A 50-foot bar area has been added, where local bands will perform throughout the summer. A new terrace, which can hold at least 100 people, is also under construction.
Up the hill from the docks, marina patrons and visitors will also notice significant changes and new services. The marina office is being equipped to provide wireless Internet service, which will be sold to marina customers. Or, boaters can come inside the marina office to check e-mails at its executive workstation.
A new 16,000-square-foot boat storage building is also new, along with an aerobics studio and multipurpose indoor recreation area, which will house a new kids’ recreation program.
“We don’t know of any marina that offers a structured children’s recreation program, so this will be unique to us,” Tammy Stanbrough said. “It’s a weekend program that can be used by both the public and slip holders. They can drop their kids off for four-hour increments, and we’ll do structured activities like scavenger hunts, tie-dying and sports.”
The fitness studio, Aerobically Yours, is currently offering three classes per week, taught by Tammy Stanbrough, who also operates a studio by the same name in Des Moines. The studio plans to be open year-round, and expand to include tanning beds and massage therapy.
The marina’s remodeled eatery, called the Lakeshore Restaurant, will bear little resemblance to the old one. It will open June 1 as a banquet facility for corporate and private functions and be available to the public on a limited basis later in the summer, Tammy Stanbrough said. Its chef will be Nella Blanco, formerly of The Wine Experience, and the menu will include steaks, seafood and chicken.
“It’s not going to be a seven-day-per-week, breakfast lunch and dinner place; it’s going to be more exquisite and unique, hard to get into,” she said. “We’re keeping it small, with about 60 seats, to really focus on the quality of the food.”
In addition, part of the old marina office has been converted into a store, which will sell products such as personal-care items, newspapers and bottled water. Coin-operated commercial washers and dryers have been added in another room for boaters, and the marina’s bicycle and boat rentals will be handled at the far end of the building.
“The old marina didn’t have rentals,” Dan Stanbrough said. “Boat rentals are a big deal. It may light someone’s fuse to become a boater and come back here to dock their boat in the future.”
The marina also hopes to attract customers from the Neal Smith Trail, which runs across the property.
“The trail is a real asset to the lake,” Dan Stanbrough said. “In the past, the marina hasn’t acknowledged bikers. They’re customer for us. We will be installing bike racks below the terrace for people to stop and have dinner and mingle with our customers at the docks.”
Counting on synergy
The Stanbroughs expect these improvements will bring a new energy to the marina and the surrounding area, which is why they have also invested in additional projects nearby.
The Stanbrough Cos.’ real estate and home-building divisions plan to break ground on Marina Cove, a 120-unit housing development, across Iowa Highway 415 and down the road from the marina. Nearby, they’re also working on a commercial development, Marina Glen. In Polk City, the Stanbroughs bought the building formerly occupied by a boat dealership, and they say a tenant is in the process of signing a lease to open a dealership in the same spot.
“The commercial projects will have a similar aesthetic appeal to the marina, with white and blue color and the metal roofs,” Tammy Stanbrough said. “Now when people come to the city, they will come to a lake destination. We want this to be a recreation destination for families to come to. You won’t have to own a boat because there will be much more for people to do.”