Gated RV resorts have sprung up during the pandemic. Marion County is 'the next hot spot'

It was August 2019 when Debbie and Steve Newsome left their Alaska home in their 38-foot Winnebago, called a Class A Diesel Pusher, and headed south to Alabama to visit family. It was their first out-of-state RV retirement journey.

While in Alabama, they watched an RVing video on YouTube that featured Sunkissed Village RV Resort, a luxury 55-and-older park on South U.S. 441, next to Camping World and across the street from Del Webb Spruce Creek Golf & Country Club retirement community in Summerfield.

The couple loaded up and headed south to be kissed by the Florida sunshine.

Sunkissed Village, which sits on 33 acres, opened in December 2019. Currently, the park has 208 RV sites and 59 park model suites, or permanent manufactured homes, that are about 500 square feet each.

Unlike the RV parks and campsites of old, many of the newer RV camping venues are, in fact, resorts. They feature scenic lots, large clubhouses, Olympic-size pools, and ample recreation facilities, including popular pickleball courts.

Debbie Newsome, 65, said that COVID-19 forced her and her husband, who is 67, to alter their original plan, which was to spend winter 2019-20 in the southern United States before heading back to Alaska last spring.

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"We didn't intend on staying away for a year, but because of COVID we decided it was best for us to just to stay put until it calms down some," Darla Newsome noted, adding RV parks are now about location and neighbors.

By the time they get back home, if the new plan plays out, 20 months will have passed since they left Anchorage.

The couple does a lot of biking at the Santos Trailhead, as well as "all kinds of games, dinners and dancing" at Sunkissed Village, she noted. She said of course the dinners and dancing are outdoors and have met social distancing requirements.

Sunkissed Village is one of many luxury-style RV communities that are popping up all across Florida, and especially in Marion County.

'Marion is next hot spot'

Bobby Cornwell, president and CEO of the Florida Association of RV Parks and Campgrounds for nearly three decades, said Florida is seeing the most growth in terms of new RV parks, and Marion is becoming a top destination.

In Florida, there is one RV space per 225 people, while in Marion there is one RV space per 60 people. That means Marion has nearly four times the RV lots per capita than the state average.

Marion has 41 RV parks and 5,820 spaces. Florida has 800 RV parks and 100,000 spaces. Marion is becoming a hot spot because of its proximity to Orlando and the beaches. The Ocala National Forest is also known for its springs and trails – not to mention the World Equestrian Center, the Florida Horse Park and other venues that draw people who may need longer term living arrangements.

"Ocala is just primed," Cornwell said. "It's growing by leaps and bounds. A lot of it has to do with Ocala being in Central Florida. It's a peaceful area that is conveniently located to Orlando, the beaches and an hour-and-half from anywhere you want to go."

Cornwell said that the weather is good in Ocala and the local government has worked well with developers to have "nice RV business properties in the area."

Mike Wood, who owns four RV parks in Alachua and Sumter counties, says Marion County is where he wants to expand. His RV parks can be found on his I75Camp.com website, which he uses to draw in customers.

He said he once owned an RV park in Marion and is looking to do so again.

"I am very familiar with Marion County and I am actively looking because I need that spot because I have got parks from Bushnell, Lake Panasoffkee and Wildwood, on up to Gainesville. There's no question that Marion County is the next hot spot," he said.

Build it and they will come

Darla Sinnard is regional manager for Sunkissed Village and three other properties owned by Jennings Realty in Illinois. She said Sunkissed is the company's first RV park built from scratch. The others were purchased and renovated.

"We are booked into the spring," Sinnard said. "They come down during the pandemic and enjoy the Florida sunshine and have the ability to safely go to restaurants and attend events with masks. It's the freedom of traveling."

Coming soon will be two more luxury RV resorts, which are slated to open by early 2022, while others are set to be renovated and expanded.

• Champions Run Ocala Luxury RV Resort: Developer Chris Miller, of Sunlight Resorts, said the company will soon break ground on 50-plus acres. The development will include a 12,000-square-foot clubhouse and large pool.

The resort will be on Northwest 44th Avenue just off U.S. 27, not far from the The Shops of Foxwood Publix.

"We will be putting in many amenities, such as shuffleboard court, pickleball courts and palm trees on every lot," Miller said. "This will be a five-star resort."

Miller said his company just opened its first luxury resort in Lake Wales, called Resort at Canopy Oaks.

• Southern Leisure RV Resort of Ocala: Construction is underway on 185 RV sites in this planned gated resort, which is expected to open by Jan. 1, according to developer Alan Wallace. It will be just west of Interstate 74 and north of State Road 40.

Wallace is the developer of Keystone Heights RV Resort, which just opened. Amenities will include a 7,000-square-foot clubhouse, an Olympic-size swimming pool and spa, as well as bocce ball, pickleball and shuffleboard courts.

Wallace is also the developer of the Southern Leisure RV Resort in Chiefland, which opened two years ago.

Campgrounds no longer a last resort

Though campgrounds were once associated with last-resort living, a notch above homelessness, RV communities have ditched that stigma and most new resorts live up to the name.

They are destinations, or gated RV resorts, offering elite retirement community or family-style amenities, such as Olympic-size pools, elaborate community centers and sports facilities, with most featuring pickleball courts.

Ken Loyd, general manager of Keystone Heights RV Resorts, works for RV park developer Alan Wallace, who is developing the Southern Leisure RV Resort of Ocala.

"I remember when I was a kid, when my dad would schedule a camping trip, we would take a ride to the campground to see what it was like before we would make a reservation to make sure we weren't going into a trashy park," Loyd, 57, said.

Loyd said that RV parks, and many campgrounds, are trying to shed those reputations.

"Unfortunately, a lot of campgrounds did get that reputation of being a last resort for a lot of people," Loyd noted. "Now you can live in a gated (park) with a group of people that have basically become family."

The tide especially turned in 2008 as the nation headed into a recession. Since then, there has been a definite shift in the purpose and development of RV parks and campgrounds.

"People started heading back out to RV parks, not because they were desperate but because they found it to be a great alternative lifestyle," Loyd said.

– Contact Joe Callahan at 817-1750 or at joe.callahan@starbanner.com. Follow him on Twitter @JoeOcalaNews.

This article originally appeared on Ocala Star-Banner: Gated RV resorts popping up all across Marion County