The Bagnell Dam Strip is in its slow season, and the City of Lake Ozark picked it for the biggest physical change the corridor has seen in years. The city expected demolition of 23 long-vacant structures to begin October 15 and wrap up by December 15 or earlier, under a contract with Ramboldt Excavation, LLC. All 23 are owned by Reese Development. The best-known is the former Shoreland Motel and its pool at 1172 Bagnell Dam Blvd.
For anyone who lives at the Lake year-round, the schedule matters more than the headline does. The work starts after the boat traffic is gone and is set to finish just after the Christmas Parade comes down Bagnell Dam Boulevard. The Strip's quiet months have become its construction months, and the reason goes back to how this project came together.
What Comes Down Between Now and Mid-December
The Lake Sun's September 30 report printed the property list. Most of the addresses sit just behind the boulevard, not on the main stretch visitors walk.
| Street | Structures named in the city's list |
|---|---|
| Bagnell Dam Blvd | 1172, Shoreland Motel pool and building; 1206, commercial |
| Ballenger Rd | 154, residential, plus its ground unit; 166 and 216, residential |
| Carls Dr | 5, a duplex; 7, a cabin office; 19, a home plus cabins 1–3; 31, a home plus cabins 1–4 |
| School Rd | 1504, an 11-plex; 1506, residential |
According to LakeExpo, the project also covers buildings on Thornsberry Road and Beach Drive. Every structure had to have been vacant for a long time to qualify. The city has formally certified all of them as dangerous buildings, and officials said several contain asbestos and other environmental contaminants. Asbestos abatement comes before any wall comes down, which is part of why the city scheduled two months for the job and not two weeks.
That order of work is easy to underrate from the road. Hazardous-material removal in an older building is slow and mostly invisible, so a site can look untouched for weeks before the excavators show up. If a Carls Drive cabin is still standing in early November, that doesn't mean the project has stalled.
The Money, and Why Only Two Contractors Bid
The funding is a $300,000 Community Development Block Grant from the Missouri Department of Economic Development. On top of that, Reese Development is paying the city another $133,030 to finish the work. Per the Lake Sun, Reese is matching 20 percent of the CDBG funds and also covering administrative fees the city would otherwise pay.
The bid results show how hard this work is to staff. City Administrator Harrison Fry told aldermen the city received only two bids. Ramboldt came in at $302,700. The other bid, from Midland Wrecking Inc. of Kansas City, Kansas, was more than $700,000. CDBG projects generally need at least three bids, so the city had to get a minimum-bidder waiver first. The low bid is less than half the higher one, and it lands almost exactly on the grant amount. That combination is what made the project workable this year.
Aldermen approved the first reading of the demolition ordinance at their September 22 meeting, and the second reading was scheduled for October 13.
This Is the Second Try
The project didn't happen on the first attempt. The Lake Sun reported that Reese Development and the city first applied for CDBG money together in 2024, and the request was denied. Reese kept going anyway, tearing down several buildings and cleaning up properties at its own expense. That work included parcels below Cuddy Cabin along the shoreline, the Two-Bit Town site, and a few properties on Ballenger, School and Thornsberry. Per LakeExpo, Reese has put more than $600,000 into cleanup and demolition on the Strip over the past two years. The second application went through.
Seen that way, this fall's demolition is the latest phase of work that has been going on for two years. Peter Colovos, Reese Development's chief operating officer, described it to LakeExpo in the same terms: "Brick by brick and block by block, we are committed to redeveloping this jewel of the Midwest." Fry put the city's side more simply in the same article: "This project begins by removing long-standing, dilapidated structures so that safe, meaningful redevelopment can move forward."
Monarch Plaza Is on a Separate Track
One more building on the boulevard is moving through a different process. On September 8, the city ordered the owners of Monarch Plaza to begin demolition within 30 days. Fry said that as of Friday, September 25, the property owner had not contacted the city.
Fry told the Lake Sun the city would prefer the owners handle the demolition themselves, by naming a contractor and a date to be on site. If they don't, the city will tear the building down and place a tax lien on the property for the cost, which he estimated at $80,000 to $100,000. Monarch Plaza isn't one of the 23 grant-funded structures, so its timing doesn't depend on the Ramboldt contract. The two efforts could still end up overlapping this fall.
What the Cleared Land Is For
No specific use has been announced for the parcels being cleared under the grant. What Reese Development has described is a direction. Company president Nick Reese told the Lake Sun the plan is "not about building a big attraction like a roller coaster."
"Of course, we want fun, but we want to focus on making the Bagnell Dam Strip a great, all-American downtown along the water," Reese said. "It should have all the fun people expect on the Strip, but it should also fulfill the needs of the community, because, in our opinion, the Strip is not only a tourist attraction, it's also the downtown for the Lake of the Ozarks. Our challenge is how to marry those two objectives."
That explains the off-season timing. A downtown that serves people who live here has to function in November as well as July, and the Strip's biggest change is happening in the months when residents have it mostly to themselves. Reese also said there will be more demolition farther up Bagnell Dam Boulevard, though not as soon.
Private construction is also moving forward next to the dam. LakeExpo's 2026 development roundup described restaurateur George Tucker's multi-level complex between Neon Taco and Bagnell Dam. The concept is a Tulum-inspired pool bar at the bottom, two floors of all-ages entertainment, and a Mediterranean rooftop bar. Tucker projected late 2026 or early 2027 for opening, possibly with a partial soft opening late this year, and full operation in the 2027 season. Treat that timeline as a projection.
The Strip From Halloween Through the Parade
The demolition window runs across the Strip's two big off-season community events, starting before the first and set to end after the second:
- October 15 through December 15 or earlier. The city's expected demolition window for the 23 structures.
- October 31, 2–4 p.m. Halloween on the Bagnell Dam Strip, listed on the Lake of the Ozarks CVB's October 2026 events flyer.
- December 12. The Lake of the Ozarks Christmas Parade on Bagnell Dam Boulevard, with floats, bands, horses, classic cars and boats, per the CVB's Lake Ozark page.
Most of the work sits just off the parade route, on Ballenger, Carls and School. The two boulevard addresses on the list, 1172 and 1206 Bagnell Dam Blvd, are the ones most likely to look different by the time the floats come through.
The Strip stays open while the work goes on. Tucker's Shuckers says it's on the historic Bagnell Dam Strip and open seven days a week year-round, opening at 11 a.m. daily and closing at 9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday. Its October and November calendar lists events on October 19, October 26 and November 2. If you head down for a late lunch on the Strip in November, you'll be able to see crews at work on parcels that have been vacant for years.
If you're following the Strip's redevelopment as a resident, a property owner, or someone weighing a lake purchase, Joseph Pfannenstiel and The Pfannenstiel Group can walk you through what a cleared corridor like this can mean for nearby sites, from foundations to future building potential. Contact Us to talk through the Bagnell Dam Strip parcels you're watching.
