Echo Bay Marina is still alive and well and is committed to continue serving the north end of Lake Mead.

By Vernon Robison

Moapa Valley Progress

Echo Bay on Lake Mead has experienced some drastic changes over the past two decades. The full-service marina was once a booming resort destination. But today visitation at Echo Bay has plummetted in sync with the water levels at Lake Mead. This has presented a unique set of challenges to those overseeing the facility’s future. Far from giving up, officials of Echo Bay’s concessioner Forever Resorts are putting into motion an ambitious plan for the facility that, they hope, will make the best out of a difficult situation.

A little over a year ago, Forever Resorts took over business at Echo Bay under a three year interim agreement with the National Park Service. During the past year, significant changes have been made to the operation of the facility.

“The low water levels at Lake Mead are, of course, a complete game changer in this business,” said Matt Harvey, Regional Vice President for Forever Resorts. “We have taken the better part of the year in coming up with strategies and plans for the property that we think will be fun and different and that will take into account the realities of the low water level.”

Harvey said that when Forever Resorts took over Echo Bay last year, the operation of the facility, in many ways, had not been brought up to date with the new economic realities. Bringing the facility up to date required making some rather painful decisions, he said.

By last summer, Forever had laid off most of the staff at Echo Bay and had closed down the hotel/restaurant building indefinitely.

In deciding to close the restaurant/hotel, Forever had to weigh the cost of keeping the aging facility open with the quality of the experience for the customer, Harvey said.

Built back in the 1960s, the restaurant/hotel is in need of significant and costly renovation. As the Lake waters have receded, the foundation of the building has settled causing structural damage, Harvey said.

“Let’s just say it would involve much more than just a coat of paint and new draperies,” Harvey said.

But even if all the renovations were completed, the building is still located in the wrong place, Harvey claimed.

“People want to be close to the water,” he said. “That is why they come here. But with the water so low, the hotel and restaurant are way up top, far away from the water. That’s not where people are going to go.”

For the past year, Forever Resorts has been puzzling over how to offer the full services of lodging and food, but offer them down closer to the water where their customers want to be. They have finally come up with plans to bring those services out on the water. The plans involve improving the Marina Store which is down on the water and adding to it a snack bar/cafe. Facilities for dining would be made available either inside the store or at tables outside on a nearby covered deck with a harbor view.

Forever is also working on final approvals to open, what they are calling, a Floatel. Rather than a hotel room, visitors could stay on a luxury houseboat that would stay moored to the Marina. The four bedroom, two bath houseboats would provide a unique family lodging experience right on the lake, Harvey said.

The floatel could also act as a base of operations for boaters wanting to visit the lake for a few days. Guests would have access to a small boat slip adjacent to their houseboat where they could tie their own smaller boat after spending the day on the lake.

“It will give people the houseboat experience without the high expense of fuel to run a houseboat and without the work of operating a big boat like that out on the lake,” said Herb Riggle, Echo Bay Operations Manager.

The National Park Service (NPS) has also committed significant resources to maintaining public access to the water’s edge and to the marina. A wide gravel road has recently been completed which will allow the public to access the marina area more easily. The road runs along the top of the ridge just north of the harbor and ends with a cement boat launch for low water conditions.

With lake levels currently on a seasonal rise, the old boat ramp at Echo Bay has been put back into operation. But NPS officials say that both ramps will be available to the public.

Ample parking will also be available along the new road. From these areas visitors can access sandy beaches on the north side of the ridge for swimming and camping, Forever officials said.

New picnic facilities are also planned.

“Building this road, the new boat ramp and opening up a new area to visitors, I think that the Park Service has shown that they are still very committed to success at Echo Bay,” said Randy Roundtree, Forever Resort’s Regional Manager over Lake Mead properties. “The Park Service is not giving up on this property.”

Echo Bay officials hope that these plans and improvements will help draw more visitors to the area. But they also understand that more innovative ideas and updated infrastructure is needed with the current reality.

“We have seen a shift in the way people take their vacations,” said Harvey. “Twenty years ago, people used to live for the weekend so they could go out on the Lake and spend their time here. Now people are much busier. They have soccer leagues, camps, church activities etc. There is not as much time available. Every Saturday is booked for them and they just don’t make it out to the lake as much.”

This trend seems to have support in boat slip rentals at the marina. At one time, there was a long waiting list of people who wanted to rent boat slips at Echo Bay. Now nearly two-thirds of the boat slips are currently empty, according to Roundtree.

But some of that vacancy is due to outdated infrastructure at the docks.

“We are working with two or three generations of docks,” Roundtree said. “Half of the slips at Echo Bay are for smaller boats. But that is not right for the reality of today. Nowadays people with smaller boats are choosing to put their boats into dry storage rather than pay for marina slips. Higher end customers, though, with larger boats, are more likely to put in at the marina. That is where today’s market is for us. But we aren’t very well equipped for it.”

Those types of changes require a significant capital investment. Currently, Forever Resorts is operating Echo Bay under a short term interim agreement. In fact, all of the Forever Resorts properties on Lake Mead are being run under short term interim agreements including facilities at Callville Bay, Temple Bar, Willow Beach, Cottonwood Cove, Lake Mead R.V. Village, Black Canyon Run and Echo Bay.

But in order to devote the kinds of resources needed to update major infrastructure like boat docks at Echo Bay, it would require a much longer term arrangement than three years, Harvey said.

“We would need a longer time horizon to be able to make back some of the capital costs incurred,” Harvey said. “If we can look over a period of 10-20 years, then we can start to build a realistic strategy for moving forward.”

But a longer-term arrangement requires a propectus to be issued by the NPS. Once issued, concessioners can bid on the prospectus by preparing a detailed business plan on how they propose to fulfill the demands of the prospectus. Then a concessioner is eventually selected by the NPS to run the property according to their proposed plan.

NPS officials have been saying for years that a long-term prospectus on Echo Bay is forthcoming. But the property has continued under interim management. This has effectively delayed any major updates needed at the property.

Harvey said that an NPS propectus is expected to be completed for Echo Bay around 2013.

Though the economic challenges are real for Echo Bay, Harvey said that Forever Resorts is committed to see them through.

“People should understand that we are not going anywhere,” he said. “Echo Bay Marina is not going anywhere. We are going to keep trying to do the best we can with the hand that we are dealt. And we will continue to get better.”

Forever Resorts plans to hold a Grand Re-Opening event at Echo Bay to show its new on-the-water facilities, including the Float-el concept, to the public. It is expected to be held at some point next month. Keep an eye on the Progress for more details.

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