After two decades of innovation in real estate and luxury rentals, Missouri-based Jeramie Worley is bringing those lessons together at Table Rock Lake — a nature-first hospitality destination with a focus on stewardship, guest experience, and long-term success.
The Midwest region and particularly Branson, MO, know Jeramie Worley well. A 20-year commercial real estate broker and Short-Term Rental (STR) specialist, Worley has spent the past two decades helping investors build portfolios in the rental hospitality space. He’s been quoted by the Wall Street Journal. He’s the author of Myths, Management, and Mastery of Vacation Rentals, which documents his innovative work in this space.
As an early mover, Worley has sold roughly $2 billion in regional real estate assets with an unyielding focus on putting guest experience first. His innovative ideas and people-first focus have served the hospitality and RE industry well.
Not every aspect of hospitality is easy. Regulations, workflow, client management, and investment planning are paramount, as he describes in his book.
Interestingly, one of Worley’s long-time friends and associates, retired Missouri legislator Keith Frederick, contributed a chapter about the regulatory process to Worley’s book, which continues to act as a vital resource for myriad investors and fellow practitioners. Inspired by his several years of collaboration with Worley, Frederick and his wife are looking into a short-term rental development of their own in Anchorage, AK, as a passion project in the area they visit frequently and remember with love.
The Next Chapter: A Landmark Vacation Destination at Table Rock Lake
Over the past several years, Worley, his partner Brad Youngblood, and their team have been hard at work their biggest project yet: The Victory Springs development at Table Rock Lake is a master planned luxury development featuring branded short-term rentals, smart tech cabins, and a nature-forward design. The location is epic, as the development is positioned strategically in the undeveloped space near the top of Battleship Rock, a beloved landmark on Table Rock Lake, which has not previously been accessible via land.
While Table Rock Lake welcomes more than 10 million annual visitors (and draws a significant share of the region’s $1.7B in annual tourism spending), visitor growth has outpaced new resort development for multiple years. The opportunity to make this unique location accessible to the growing community of couples, adventure-seekers, and families who welcome a unique vacation experience has become a personal passion and an opportunity too unique to ignore.
Likewise, the destination is an ideal opportunity to exemplify Worley’s highest vision for nature-first development and guest-experience-first creation.
The Hospitality Thesis, Putting Guests, Nature, and Community Stewardship First
In the case of Victory Springs, Battleship Rock and its unique stone-faced cliffs are much more than adjacent scenery. These pieces of nature, forged through centuries of time, are central to the identity and experience of the property.
For Worley’s term, the concept of “guest experience first” within the facilities means original floor plans, gathering spaces, larger windows, indoor-outdoor connection, and accommodations intended for couples, families, and multigenerational travelers. Longer-term concepts include wellness, restorative amenities, accessibility-focused accommodations, and respite experiences as well, to make the unforgettable destination as welcoming and accessible as possible to all.
The project’s stated goal is to create an operating model that supports safer access, trails, oversight, and long-term care of the land. In every detail, the project is being designed around a long-term stewardship commitment to the cliffs and surrounding land.
Building and Development Carry the Nature-First Philosophy, Too
Vitally important to the nature-first aspect of the project, Victory Springs is not a conventional clear the land and build style of development. Trees have been surveyed for conservation and protection. The project uses smaller excavation equipment than typical development builds. Work is proceeding section by section. The overriding goal is to preserve mature trees and avoid blasting wherever practical. Architects are working to integrate structures into the land, rather than erasing the land to accommodate structures.
Where Does It Stand?
While Victory Springs has now moved beyond concept and entitlement into Phase One site development, the early preparations from 2024-2026 were filled with adventure. Members of the local community were highly concerned about the potential impact on road access, traffic, infrastructure, as well as the developmental impact on this formerly uninhabited space.
Adding to the community concern, one of the primary public roads required for access is not maintained by the county it lies within and has been traditionally sustained through collaborations among the neighboring homes and developments. Residents were understandably concerned about the increased use of this largely unpaved road by construction vehicles as well as by an increasing number of vacation renters (beyond the STRs already established) coming in and out of the area for shopping and entertainment, as well as increased access from maintenance staff.
In a season Worley describes as “some of the worst moments of his life,” a portion of the community took their understandable concerns into their own hands and put a gate across the road to block access. Thankfully, the court reiterated Tall Tree Drive’s status as a public road.
Worley agrees the neighborhood concerns were important questions. For a person with 20-years of reputation, being wrongly characterized as a “raze and ruin” developer destroying the area’s natural terrain was painful. But he counts the resulting conversations as vital dialogues that have improved the project.
Among the results, Victory Springs has established an internal allowance for the road’s improvements and maintenance relative to the portion of use the development is contributing and is working with the surrounding stakeholders toward longer-term solutions.
Likewise, the process further solidified the nature-first form of construction the project is using. The project is planning for just 1-2 full-time maintenance employees to minimize the need for myriad workers to be traveling in and out of the development day-to-day. Better lines of communication are giving neighboring residents a clearer picture of the ways the project intends to co-exist with the community as a benefit to all.
The Entrepreneurial Launch
At present, Taney County (where the development itself resides) has approved and rezoned the Victory Springs property for its new use. Land use approval is finished. Phase One wastewater has been approved; the well process has advanced; and new roads are being installed as the project moves toward the completion of its first 16 structures.
Worley has completed the first round of funding through syndication, which has created a surge of interest that is now allowing the work to begin.
In addition to all other outcomes, the project is giving Worley and his partners the opportunity to prove a development of this kind can begin with preservation and respect for the land already there, rather than removing what exists to create a new canvas. Clearly, if resilience and force of will can make this objective happen, he is already there.
Q&A
GritDaily: You’ve developed a Pickleball-Themed STR space (The Chill Pickle) that’s up for some awards…an 80-acre lakefront development project (Lake Longbow) – with so much happening, why are you so committed to this particular project?
Worley: Functionally, beyond all projects I’ve worked on to date, my partner Brad Youngblood and I believe the legacy and love that surrounds this location represents a unique opportunity for investors and visitors alike to participate in a premium hospitality asset in one of America’s most popular lakefront destinations.
GritDaily: In your 20 years’ experience in the STR space, has any other project involved as much complexity as this one in the approvals you required to get started?
Worley: This one took an unusually high toll on me and on my team. I completely understand and support the position of the portion of neighbors concerned about the access road and other details of Victory Springs. They were asking important questions. It was being personally mischaracterized (and the unilateral decision to install a gate across a public road that required me to file a lawsuit) that created my personal agony. But it led to good things and stronger avenues of communications. On the whole – yes, regulatory issues, while vital, are a giant category of work for the STR sector. For more on that, you can check out the chapter “Mr. Worley goes to Washington” in my book. Yes, it is a bit tongue-in-cheek. But I dedicated a full chapter – actually several chapters — to the theme for good reason, in the hopes others will not have to repeat the harder side of the adventures I’ve lived.
GritDaily: What does the next phase of Victory Springs look like?
Worley: Great question, since the approvals are finished and the initial funding is in. It’s moving quickly. The first phase is just 16 units. Ultimately, we have a chapel and an event space planned. Some of the spaces will cover unique amenities and respite services. I can’t say enough about the strength of our team, which includes my partner Brad Youngblood and Stephen Hall, a truly expert advisor, business mentor, and investor in making this project a win for all, on so many levels. There’s plenty of information on our website. But I’m also personally accessible to all.
Spencer Hulse is the Editorial Director at Grit Daily. He is responsible for overseeing other editors and writers, day-to-day operations, and covering breaking news.
