'Something fun for us to work with': Port Huron inks $2 million deal to sell RV park

Port Huron Township’s recreational vehicle park will stay a campground in private hands under a new $2 million purchase agreement — just with a few upgrades the developer hopes will help turn it into a glamping destination.

Steve Ureel, president and CEO of Rochester-based Parkbridge Investment Group, Inc., has a 90-day period to cover due diligence steps, such as environmental survey work.

But in an interview last week, he said he aims to break ground in 2023 on a new clubhouse and welcome center and an inground pool at the campground with plans to keep existing park lots for seasonal RV travelers and 10 to 15 full-service luxury cabins.

“If those boxes get checked and they’re clean and there’s no real issues that come up, the vision I have (with) my wife Karen … is a local, kind of giveaway project in the sense that we felt his area could benefit from an improved RV resort destination,” Ureel said. “Less about the bottom line on this and more about the amenities, the features, and something fun for us to work with.”

The RV park still functions as a seasonal campground — with RVers having already made arrangements for later this year — so Ureel and Township Supervisor Bob Lewandowski said they don’t anticipate any immediate changes to the property.

It’s long been on the market, and Lewandowski said they had originally intended it for some sort of future retail use.

“But we all know where retail’s going right now,” he said.

A purchase agreement with a potential future $400,000 option to also buy a small township park nearby was approved by the township board earlier this month. The combined parcel is well over 20 acres.

Ureel’s proposal comes within a year of another for the vacant Mallard Creek property in the township along the Black River. Lewandowski said they’re glad to see things moving forward.

“It looks good,” he said. “With the RV park going into private hands, that’ll bring us a tax base. Same with that other property if that gets developed.”

Local native plans to put a township's campground on the map

Ureel said he caught wind of the available RV park from the township’s broker last fall. His group has already purchased and refurbished manufactured home parks in the area, as well as other projects out of county.

A Port Huron native, the township’s campground is a project a little closer to home. He previously lived in Oakland County but more recently moved full-time to his family’s summer home near Gratiot Beach, commuting to his corporate office in Rochester a couple times a week.

In addition to a clubhouse and pool, Ureel said they have another $1 million worth of work in mind for the park with amenities such as a fenced-in dog run or park, pickleball courts, and walking trails through a wooded space along a pond adjacent to the site.

“What’s really exciting for campers and more popular is glamping,” he said. “… A combination of those with RV park models — like a mobile home, a permanent RV. People can buy them and you can rent them, but season snowbirds would get their unit.”

Currently, Lewandowski and Ureel said there’s about 130 existing full sites on the campground with about 40% to 50% of its visitors being seasonal.

Ureel said he also thought they could bring some more awareness — or “knowability” — to the RV park.

“I see the Cracker Barrel. It’s back there. And most people I’ve talked to have no clue it’s there, and so that’s the part of what we can bring to it as a private company,” he said. “We can bring that marketing, public relations and basically putting it on the map as an amenity for the township.”

Lewandowski agreed more awareness would benefit the park and the township.

“A little bit of marketing will go a long way because that’s the only campground that’s within biking distance to go to downtown Port Huron or anything like that,” he said. And although finding another place for a township RV park has come up in conversation, he added, “It’s not really a high priority for us.”

Too soon to know future of potential second purchase option

Beyond the first phase of improvements, Ureel said a second phase within a couple of years could include enhancements like paving the park’s existing gravel streets and upgrading its lots with concrete parking pads.

A third phase would occur if the potential purchase of the other park property moves forward. However, Ureel said that depends on the demand after an initial build-out.

The township campground has shared a parcel across Water Street with the separate township property. Both are adjacent to the connector to Interstates 94 and 69.

“The question is can that east side property … be developed with additional (RV) sites or additional amenities?” Ureel said. “It could be joint amenities (with the township) splash parks.”

Structural issues, though, may limit its capacity for development.

“Obvious use of a corner of a highway like that would be a drive-thru, a Starbucks, things like that,” Ureel said. “But infrastructure-wise, it may not even allow or accommodate that in just the way it’s configured.”

Contact Jackie Smith at (810) 989-6270 or jssmith@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @Jackie20Smith.

This article originally appeared on Port Huron Times Herald: Port Huron inks $2 million deal to sell RV park