Mission Point Resort has new owners. For the first time in three decades, the Mackinac Island resort has been sold and will undergo a thorough renovation.
Mission Point Resort, on Mackinac Island, is under new ownership. Dennert and Suzanne Ware, of San Antonio, Texas, operating under the entity D&S North, LLC, bought the 239-room property in December of last year, and haven't waited long to put their stamp on it.
"A new chapter is beginning for Mission Point Resort," says its VP and managing director, Bradley McCallum. "This property is a gem in a one-of-a-kind destination and we are greatly looking forward to working with the Ware family to further its success."
The ownership is new, but the owners are not strangers to the area. Mission Point is the Wares' second Mackinac Island hospitality property investment.
Dennert, originally from Kalamazoo, and Suzanne are proprietors of the island's Silver Birches Lodge as well and that property, according to a recent release, underwent renovation directed by the Wares' daughter, Liz Ware of Chicago.
Ground should break in the near future when shovels hit the ground on the multi-million dollar Mission Point renovation and enlargement plan that's been in place since day one. A new, larger spa facility and pool complex and guest room improvements are among the initial list of property enhancements that arrived hand-in-hand with the acquisition.
Resting on 18 acres of lakefront land, the resort has four restaurants and its amenities include a waterfront 18-hole putting course, a tennis court, an observation tower and museum, the island's only movie theater and an art and history museum.
For work and for play
Sure, pure pleasure seekers flock to the island during the warm season, but scores of guests also check in at Mission Point with more than golf rounds and sun soaks programmed into their phones and scrawled on calendar lists. They also fill the banquet halls, ballrooms, breakout spaces, and reception and guest areas that make up the island's largest venue for parties, conventions, trade shows.
Why are events such a vital revenue stream for this historic waterfront vacation retreat? Examine national figures. At least 113 million people attended 1.8 million various types of U.S. corporate meetings, conventions and conferences in 2012, and that year's business travel industry poured $770 billion into the country's economy.
Mission Point snags its share of that annual pot by maintaining itself as a popular event destination and wedding venue. With 38,000 square feet available for any conceivable function, it was named 2013's Finest Meeting Location by the
Meeting Professionals International Michigan Chapter and was also chosen as one of the nation's 10 Best Lakeside Hotels in 2014 by
Fodor's Travel magazine.
"We look forward to helping this very special property realize its full potential while remaining a time-honored tradition for families to visit year after year," says Dennert Ware. "Our family loves Mackinac and the Great Lakes region."
Kelle Barr is a freelance reporter from Southwest Michigan who enjoys baseball, lounging at lakeside retreats and sipping Faygo through red licorice straws. Follow her on Twitter @BarrKelle or reach her at Kellebarr@gmail.com
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