Cragun's Resort, family-owned for 85 years, sold to hospitality company

One of Minnesota's biggest resorts, with a legacy of family ownership spanning 85 years, is changing hands.

Cragun's Resort on Gull Lake in Brainerd, owned by Dutch Cragun, 93, whose father opened the resort in 1940, is now under contract to be sold to a local investment group led by Brainerd Lakes-area resident Jamie Tatge, president of Leisure Hotels and Resorts, headquartered in nearby Baxter, Minn.

"There's a lot of emotion in this transaction. This is a big deal for the seller, it's a big deal for us," Tatge said in an interview. "I think there's just a lot of good synergies to have something like this in our backyard that we can have a lot of fun with and to continue to enhance what the Brainerd Lakes can offer to our guests."

This is the 12th property in Minnesota for Leisure Hotels and Resorts, including a new hotel opening on Lake Minnetonka in May, Quarterdeck Resort in Nisswa, Cove Point Lodge in Beaver Bay and Pier B Resort Hotel in Duluth.

Leisure Hotels and Resorts is a third-party resort and hotel management firm. It operates locations throughout the Midwest as well as Oregon, Nevada, Vermont, and another headquarters office in Kansas.

Tatge said Cragun's stands out among its destinations given its legacy and scale. Cragun's spans 800 acres with its three golf courses and 40 acres of shoreline.

"It's been a property of interest for quite some time," he said. "It's a big operation. It's a big transaction. You need to make sure you have the support and the team to do it the right way, so you can continue to build it, continue to grow it, and continue to allow it to do great things."

Terms of the sale have not been disclosed and will remain private, Tatge said. But the sale, expected to be finalized before the summer, is assumed to be the largest resort transaction in Minnesota history.

Dutch Cragun and his late wife, Irma, who died in 2022 at age 87, ran Cragun's Resort after taking over for Cragun's parents, who bought the property after the Great Depression.

"The first thing I did when I took over the property from my parents was put hot water heaters in each cabin," Dutch said in a statement. "We also put a heated swimming pool in. Then guests from the competition really started coming to Cragun's."

Dutch and Irma Cragun met at a dance in San Francisco and married in 1965. They settled in Brainerd and took over the resort business, guiding the expansion from 12 cabins and 10 rooms to 69 cabins, over 200 hotel rooms and three golf courses totaling 54 holes.

In 2016, the Craguns built a house on Gull Lake across from the resort to gaze out and admire what they'd built.

Family resorts owned by generations are part of the fabric of Minnesota, but many are fading away. For Cragun's to change hands only from father to son is rare, Tatge said.

"To have that sit in a family for 85 years with essentially two generations is somewhat remarkable, and something that doesn't happen every day," he said.

"This is his legacy. This is his story, and we're just so excited that we've been entrusted to get the deal done... [and] be a good steward. That was important to us and important to him," Tatge added.

The resort's recent expansion included the largest renovation project in its 85-year history.

The $25 million remodel and expansion to hotel rooms, cabins and marina included a $17 million golf course upgrade, with 18 new holes designed by pro golfer and Minnesota native Tom Lehman.

The resort employs more than 400 people in peak summer months. General manager Eric Peterson has been with Cragun's for 14 years and will continue his role under new ownership.

"The team is what makes a resort," Peterson said. "Jamie and his group are excited to inherit the existing team here at Cragun's and then bring some of their expertise and their fresh ideas."

Peterson said the historic transaction "brings certainty to the continuation of the legacy that Dutch and his father started."

"It's a very high-cost business to maintain property, maintain facilities, maintain amenities for guests. So it's not an easy business to be in, as we see them closing."

"We have a lot of resorts that have long legacies of being family-owned, as far as some of our big resorts in the state," Peterson said. "This will definitely be a change."

Cragun's has long been a destination for families and business conferences. Peterson said that Dutch wanted to ensure the resort continues for generations to come, "and allow a lot of people to come up and enjoy the access to what Minnesota is all about, the lakes."

The sale marks a new chapter for the lakeside destination. A celebration of Dutch and the legacy of the Cragun family is in the works.