Private Lake Survey - Help out a student

[eagle1wi]

This survey is for our MBA capstone class for which we are writing a business plan for a private lake development.

This questionnaire should take you about 10 minutes to complete.  I know most of you aren't in our target geographic area but your participation will help greatly to show market acceptance of the concept.

Thanks in advance for your help.  I REALLY appreciate it.

http://www.keysurvey.com/survey/122809/171e/

[PSullivan3]

I gave you my .02.PS put the check in the mail soon so I can buy  one.Pat

[Lakeside]

Cool project to work on.  Good luck with it!

Are there any private lakes in SE Wisconsin / NE Illinois (other than Dr. Michaels' lake where he fixed the Malibu Open a year ago)?  Just wondering if there is already a market in our area.

Are the costs of owning at a private lake less than owning on a Pewaukee, Okauchee, Nebahbin or Nagawicka?

Just a hunch, don't you think the market would be strongest for this in Illinois?  My perception is that there are fewer lakes in Illinois, more population and more disposable cash, at least in pockets of Lake County/Northern Cook County (though I'm not that familiar with the Fox Lakes). 

I suppose that's what you are going to discover with your research.  Let us know what you find out!

[Ktown]

I actually looked in to buying property on a private ski lake in Northwest Florida.  They had 4 runs and it was very reasonable (about 20,000 more than comparable properties on 1/2 acre).  The set-up allowed for all of the homes to be on the water with the option of setting-up a lift in the back yard.  The only downfall was the regulations governing the lake didn't allow for boats to use ballast.  Basically, no real wakeboarding!  It was designed mostly for slalom skiers and they were concerned with errosion from the heavily ballasted wakeboarding boats.  I would consider adding a section on building barriers to protect from errosion of the new Monster Malibu's and such.  Good luck on the study, I'd be interested to see what you come up with.

[eagle1wi]

Yes lakeside, property close to Chicago would be more desirable.  Our proposed location right now is just south of Hwy 50 in Kenosha county (about 5 miles into Wisconsin).  I have a excavation contractor looking into it now.  That would be about 15-20 minutes closer than Lake Geneva to the people that live in the city of Chicago.  Right now it is just a B-School project but I do want to do it if it makes financial sense.

As far a wakeboarding I think we have to consider letting ballasted boats on the darn thing otherwise we are loosing half our market.  So far it is close to en even split between skiing and boarding.  Last night I was thinking using some of the scrap concrete from the Marquette interchange project for the base of the shores with more aesthetic rock on top,  that could get REALLY expensive though but would fight erosion a lot better.

Thanks for your input, all of you, my professor thought I wouldn't get enough responses since he thinks it is such a niche market.  I already have some excellent info to "prove" the marketability but keep em coming if you haven't filled it out yet.

[masonlk]

The problem with using rock or concrete is that someone could take a header into it. The ideal bottom is clay. Doesn't wash away and keeps the water from draining through the ground. Water stays murky though and isn't real pretty to look at. I think you need a minimum of 2 maybe 3 lakes. Make the wakeboard lake wider with a longer(shallower) slope to the shore. You might also see if you can design the bottom of the lake toward shore to break down the wake before it hits the shore. Maybe a false shore the wake washes over and drains into. A shallow ditch covered by a grate(angled?) which then drains back into the lake. Like a swimming pool.

Good Luck! To ski every morning on glass has been a life long dream. I'm envious!

[eagle1wi]

Yes masonlk the bottom would be clay and hopefully you couldn't possibly cut far enough to get to the rocks.  Rather than having sandy edges I would want the shore break to be the busted up concrete so it would keep the waves from coming back through the lake but we would still have the water level staying consistent.

They had the Malibu Open here in Wisconsin last summer (big drama if you remember) on a private lake.  The issue with that location is that it was quite shallow at I think 1 ball, even well seasoned pros were sliding out but they were nowhere near the shore.  I want to go deeper and have a better shore line because it sounds like that location lost more and more depth as the shore eroded away into the lake.

I think it is one of those things to spend a little more on the front end to not have to spend a lot later.  Can you imagine dredging the thing just to regrade?

One thought is to go double wide with the dig and run the scrap concrete chunks down the center to break any wake down without having the erosion you have with clay and sand.

Does anyone know if having the steel reinforcements from the concrete would create and environmental issue?  I imagine potentially rusty water but I would guess that those contractors are paying to dump all that stuff somewhere.

[Lakeside]

Do you know what lake the Correct Craft Wakeboarding Championships were held on in Kenosha last month?  I had never heard of it before.... perhaps it is a private lake that you can borrow a few ideas from.

I think a lot of the concrete chunks from the Marquette Interchange rebuild are going into landfills in Lake Michigan for the Lakeshore State Park build-out near Summerfest and for the new Discovery World Museum/Aquarium and Dennis Sullivan Tall Ship pier and breakwater.

By the way, if you haven't done it, you should take your Epic out on Lake Michigan on a calm day.  You'll have a blast and see a lot.  If you stay within the Milwaukee Harbor breakwater, the waves are no problem - although it won't be the glass you'll find on the inland lakes.  Currently, there are huge barges in the harbor with concrete chunks and cranes working on these projects. 

If you go up the Milwaukee River, there are new restaurants with boat docks opening every year as part of the Riverwalk Project.  Rip Tide, Milwaukee Ale House, Rock Bottom Brewery, John Hawks Pub and others are great to visit.  There is Barnacle Buds Tavern (owned by Skipper Buds) on the Kinnickinnick River, too. 

Speaking of waterfront real estate, the condo boom which is going on up and down the Milwaukee River is fueled in part by Chicagoans.  It's cheaper for them to buy a $400,000 condo with boat slip on the river than it is for them to find a place for their boat in Chicago.  So a lot of Chicagoland boaters are buying second homes in downtown Milwaukee to get a "cheaper" place to park their boats.  Of course, their boats and ski boats fuel two different real estate markets.

[eagle1wi]

The wakeboard event was held on Lake Andrea about a mile from my condo.  That is a non-motorized lake except for a few weekend special events a year.  The wakeboard, jetski, and boat race events are just a few of the exceptions. 

[LC Epic]

Hey neighbor, I am just up Hwy 67 in Summit. Not far from Eagle. There is a private ski lake just down the street from me. It is call Stillwaters. I can hear them every night and wish I was there. I have two problems, four little kids and I might get laughed off the course.

Me and a neighbor of mine were thinking about doing the same thing. You can get a premium for the lake side lots.

Let me know what the business plan looks like. You might have an investor.

[Lakeside]

We were out on Lake Michigan this weekend.  I went past the barge and it looked like the boulders were "fresh," not recycled from the Marquette.  I wonder where the Marquette concrete chunks are going?

[tenn162000]

hey lakeside- How cold is it getting up that way- Us boys down here in the south had one awesome weekend- Low 80s in Tennessee.  When you going to winterize your boat and store it for the season?

[Lakeside]

You had to ask! 

The leaves are changing and it is getting cool at night (40's).  It looks like we'll have 70's this weekend, so we'll probably winterize it next week.  We seem to get our first freeze in mid-October each year.

Another great summer in the Epic!

[Lakeside]

Here's a look at the $400,000+ boat slips that Chicagoans are buying in downtown Milwaukee.  Buy a boat slip, get a condo on the side.  Several of these buildings have popped up in the past couple of years.  More are on the way. 

[eagle1wi]

The project is handed in and we gave our presentation last night.  At first the professor thought I was crazy for having an idea like this for an MBA Business plan proposal.  At first he gave us a real hard time about being too focused on a particular niche and that it would be cost prohibitive to make any money off of doing it.  Now I think he is convinced that there is a market for this type of thing even in a land of 15,000 lakes (yes we have a few more than Minnesota). 

Thanks again for helping me out with the survey and your comments here.

Now I am off to see if we can actually do it, not just write the plan.