What ever happened to that luxury resort planned for Kentucky’s Red River Gorge?
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Proposed 900-acre luxury resort stalled by COVID and inflation; land remains.
- Cabin construction and short-term rentals surged; visitor numbers and businesses rose.
- Opposition group converted into land trust to secure easements and limit development.
Editor’s note: “Whatever Happened To” is a Herald-Leader effort to update readers on stories that grabbed headlines and attention with previous coverage. If you want to know the latest on a story from the past, email us at ask@herald-leader.com.
When it came to a proposed luxury resort in the Red River Gorge in 2020, people had lots of opinions, most of them strongly expressed.
The pro-development wing, made of up unsurprisingly of developers and elected officials, called turning 900 acres near Slade into a luxury resort — complete with a lodge and home sites — a way to open all of Eastern Kentucky to tourism, bringing prosperity that has eluded the former coal region for so long.
Opponents, who coalesced around the group Red River Gorge United, decried a land grab that would turn pristine acreage into a mini-Gatlinburg, ruining the gorge’s delicate landscapes and outdoors aesthetics forever.
But none of those things came true because the resort has not been built. In the words of investor and organizer Dave Adkisson, it comes down to two things: “COVID and inflation.”
Adkisson, former president of the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce, was part of Red River Economic Development, which launched the plan to buy the 900 acres for about $2.25 million, then find a national developer to spin it into gold. Adkisson wouldn’t speculate further about what would happen to the land, which is still owned by the Red River Property Holding Group LLC.
Not even a tasty tax incentive slipped into statute last year — specially designed around the project — has been enough to tempt developers. At least not yet.
From protest to protection
But along the way, something interesting things have happened in all the counties around the gorge.
Cabin construction and rentals have exploded, leading to more people, shops and restaurants. In October, more than 50,000 people came to the visitors center in Slade, surpassing 35,000 the year before. That’s only slightly below as the Louisville Visitors’ Center, tourism director Peter Fingerson said.
“There’s so much demand for Airbnb that there’s not enough supply,” said Ian Teal, the developer who sold the resort land to the property group. “That’s triggered a lot of investors coming in, and now locals are converting old family houses into short term rentals.
“There’s good and bad with everything,” he said. “The No. 1 growing pain is there are a lot more employees, and they’re having a hard time finding cheap housing.”
The land rush has become so intense that Red River Gorge United is turning from a protest group into a land trust nonprofit organization, leader Jonathan Hicks said.
That means they will help people hold on to their land despite rising prices and property taxes.
“There’s a lot of people who are dreading the fact that their family land will be auctioned off,” Hicks said. “We can help them with easements (which prevent future development) and provide a vehicle to say, ‘this is what I want my land to look like.’”
It’s early days yet, but they are working to raise money to come with the inevitable legal fees.
“There’s still a lot of land owned generationally that will be developed in the next 30 to 40 years,” Hicks said. “If we can give them the tools to put limits on the land, that’s a really powerful thing.”
Hicks pointed out that five years after it was proposed, the resort has more or less become an afterthought.
“The bigger gold rush is already happening,” he said. “If the resort does happen, I hope it’s great. But in the meantime, the gorge has been found, and that 1,000 acres is almost beside the point.”
