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The Oklahoman http://newsok.com/article/1733615/?template=business/main
McCurtain County enjoys boom in cabin
building
By Paul Monies
Sun January 15, 2006
HOCHATOWN -- The view from the top of the bluff is breathtaking.
Pine trees and the occasional glimpse of Broken Bow Lake from
this southeastern Oklahoma hill make the area an ideal place to
fish, boat and just generally relax.
Today's installment features southeastern Oklahoma, known for
its timber and poultry, but a new growth industry is taking root:
vacation cabins. Spurred by the scenic beauty and abundant recreation,
city dwellers from the Dallas area are building lavish holiday
cabins that are changing the face of the rural county.
Around Beavers Bend State Park, property prices are rising as
suburbanites -- mostly from the Dallas-Fort Worth area -- build
plush weekend cabins that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars
and feature everything from hot tubs and custom kitchens to vanishing-edge
swimming pools. The magazine Log Homes Illustrated
recently featured a 5,000-square-foot cabin
that cost $825,000.
The building boom is changing the face of the isolated corner
of the state better known for its timberlands and poultry production.
Outsiders and retirees are bringing in cash, but they're also
driving up property prices and squeezing the locals in a region
where swollen pocketbooks aren't the norm.
"The cabins are driving up land prices, but they're helping
the local economy," said Olen Hill, city manager of Broken
Bow. "People like those views."
In the past few years, at least 300 cabins have gone up across
the unincorporated Hochatown area. A few lucky locals built cabins
and rent them out in the tourist season for between $100 and $450
a night, but most are owned by outsiders.
Some locals grumble about the lack of infrastructure to keep
up with the growth. Broken Bow would like to annex the Hochatown
area about 10 miles north of town but doesn't have the cash to
provide sewer, fire and police protection. Most of the Hochatown
area already gets its water from Broken Bow.
Local developer Dennis Jordan built many of the area's
cabins. Although they're out in the county and not subject to
city zoning or code regulations, Jordan said he includes restrictions
on the use of the properties he develops.
"Seventy-five percent of our clients are from Dallas-Fort
Worth," he said. "They don't want a trailer house or
junked cars or hound dogs roaming around."
Jordan, a McCurtain County native and former Marine,
spent several years working as a carpenter in Texas and California
before moving back to the area nine years ago. He started Jordan
Construction and still builds the occasional cabin, but now mostly
makes his money as a developer.
Jordan knows his market well, reciting statistics about
baby boomers retiring on average every 17 seconds. On a dry-erase
board in his office is a list of several cabins and their expected
finish dates. Depending on the cabin, owners renting them can
clear up to $7,000 a month during the summer months. They can
then apply that cash to the mortgage on their primary homes, Jordan
said.
"Half our clients are sending their kids off to
college," Jordan said. "This is an investment for a
lot of them. You can touch your trees and your cabin, and it makes
them feel better about their investment. It's no dot-com bubble."
Still, infrastructure issues are a growing problem, he
said. In some areas, water has shut down, forcing owners to spend
additional cash drilling wells.
"I don't know if this will ever be a Branson or
Eureka Springs," he said, referring to the popular tourism
destinations in Missouri and Arkansas. "Growth can only go
so far because of Weyerhaeuser (land) and the national forest.
There's limited private land."
Major private employers in McCurtain
County:
# Tyson Foods Inc. employs 1,200 in the poultry industry.
# Weyerhaeuser Co. employs 900 in the timber industry.
# Pan Pacific employs 160 in fiberboard manufacturing.
# J.M. Huber Corp. employs 150 in wood panel manufacturing.
# SETCO employs 125 in tire manufacturing.
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