Judge removes Honey Creek Resort’s operator after it misses reopening deadline

MORAVIA, Iowa (KCRG) - Iowa’s only state park resort is once again without an operator and back in the control of the state.

A Polk County judge found that operator Achieva Enterprises failed to reopen Honey Creek Resort by a court-ordered March 12 deadline — and showed no credible plan to do so.

The ruling reverses a December injunction that had handed resort operations back to Achieva after the state abruptly shut it down and cancelled Achieva’s contract in October of 2025.

Following the resort’s closure, Achieva sued the Department of Administrative Services (DAS) and Iowa Department of Natural Resources, claiming the state ran a smear campaign against Achieva. The company said 50 employees were left without jobs.

The latest ruling says Achieva did not reopen a single part of the resort by the deadline. The company asked for 90 to 120 more days just to tell the court when it might reopen, and suggested that could slip to 2027.

The judge wrote that Achieva’s inaction was “in stark contrast” to the company’s own earlier testimony, in which owner Beth Henderson described scrambling to open the resort in just two days when Achieva first took over in 2023, pulling off a 500-person conference.

Achieva blamed the state for leaving the resort in disrepair after it closed. The judge rejected that argument.

“Achieva has not reopened and has no set plan to do so. Defendants’ [the state’s] interest in economic development is not promoted by a vacant resort,” Judge Jeffrey Farrell wrote. “Turning the resort over to DAS gives it the opportunity to reopen the resort this year, which Achieva has made no commitment to do.”

The Iowa Department of Administrative Services can now move forward with a new bid process to find a replacement operator. That process is expected to take 60 to 90 days.

Source: kcrg.com