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Minnesota News
Dan Kraker
Duluth

Longtime family-owned Cragun’s Resort in Brainerd sold to local investment group

A resort-1
The longtime owners of the resort have agreed to sell it to a local investment group with Leisure Hotels and Resorts.
Courtesy of Cragun's Resort.

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One of Minnesota’s most prominent resorts, owned by members of the same family for the past 85 years, is changing hands.

The longtime owners of Cragun’s Resort on Gull Lake in Brainerd, founded in 1940, have agreed to sell the resort to a local investment group with Leisure Hotels and Resorts, headquartered in nearby Baxter.

“We are incredibly honored and humbled to carry the legacy and excellence of this legendary property, which has produced nearly a century of memories for so many Minnesotans,” said Jamie Tatge, President of Leisure Hotels and Resorts.

The company manages hotels and resorts in eight states, including a dozen properties in Minnesota, such as Pier B Resort Hotel in Duluth, Cove Point Lodge on the North Shore of Lake Superior, and a new hotel slated to open on Lake Minnetonka.

Dutch Cragun, now 93, and his late wife Irma, ran Cragun’s for decades. They took over for Dutch’s parents who bought the property shortly after the Great Depression.

“It was a big hill that sloped down to a marsh. It was a swamp, a gamble,” Dutch Cragun said in a statement.

A resort-2
The longtime owners of the resort have agreed to sell it to a local investment group with Leisure Hotels and Resorts.
Courtesy of Cragun's Resort.

After purchasing the property from his parents, the first upgrade he made was to put hot water heaters in each cabin.

“We also put a heated swimming pool in. Then guests from the competition really started coming to Cragun’s,” he said.

In 2015, a $25 million remodel and expansion upgraded hotel rooms, cabins, golf courses and the marina on Gull Lake.

The resort now offers 206 rooms, 55 cabins, five restaurants, three golf courses and an event center. More than 300 employees work at the complex.

Terms of the sale haven’t been disclosed, but the parties involved say it’s assumed to be the largest resort transaction in state history.

The sale is expected to be finalized before the start of the summer season.