When Eureka Springs native Tim Freeman purchased the Joy Motel August 27, 2017, he already had a full-time job as a hotel revenue consultant. He was attracted to buying and renovating the Joy Motel in part because his great-grandparents, Chloe and Ray Freeman, originally built and operated the Joy and lived in a house on the property for decades.
The Joy and the house needed significant investments for repairs and upgrading, but Freeman also had another idea in mind. He wanted to change the name to the Wanderoo Lodge and market to the younger crowd looking for outdoor adventure.
“For me, the most fun was creating something new at that property,” Freeman said. “I really enjoyed that more personally than anything else to see it became this entire new animal. The hotel industry in Eureka needed a kick in the ass. I was blown away by the response we had and I think that is really the direction of Eureka and the future of town, attracting people who want to experience the Ozarks, spend time outdoors, and have an adventure.”
The location was ideal, and not long after Wanderoo opened, the city started seeing a surge of young visitors to the new downhill bike trail system at Lake Leatherwood.
“We’ve gotten a lot of mountain bikers in,” Freeman said. “We might have five, ten or fifteen friends who drive up from Little Rock and ride the trails. They stay with us so they can hang out around the firepit at night and enjoy live music and a drink at the Gravel Bar.
“Between the downhill trails, the zip lines, Float Eureka, and the other float services in town, Eureka has really benefitted and I think will continue to benefit from the outdoor adventure crowds. I hope Wanderoo is inspiration for others who want to continue to capitalize on people who are looking for that sort of adventure.”
Freeman found that he was working long hours with not a lot of time for fun himself. He held his regular job while running Wanderoo Lodge and the restaurant and bar he added in the former home of his great-grandparents, the Gravel Bar.
So, he put the property up for sale. In early 2020, he had a contract with a buyer from New York looking for an investment, but that fell through when the pandemic hit and the stock market initially declined precipitously.
During the pandemic lockdown that lasted about six weeks, revenues dropped to almost nothing while there was still the mortgage, utilities and employees to be paid. Freeman said they got Payroll Protection Program funding to help them through the lockdown.
After the lockdown, business soared. Each month they saw a higher revenue totals than that month the previous year.
“When the lockdown ended, we did really, really, really well,” Freeman said. “A lot of places in Eureka Springs did. Guests really responded to it. They wanted to go and get out of houses once lockdown was over.”
He said one of his best decisions was to add a large deck onto the Gravel Bar, which has limited seating inside.
“If I could have planned for a pandemic, I couldn’t have planned it better than building that deck,” Freeman said. “There were a lot of nights when there was live music on the deck and nobody was sitting inside. Everyone was outside. It helped people feel safe and connect with others without having to go inside and sit inside a bar.”
After owning the property for three years, three months and three days, he sold it to a local couple, David and Ethan Avanzino.
“I think David and Ethan will be a great fit because they are local, they really want to be part of the community, and they want the property to be a success,” Freeman said. “I really like them and think they will continue to make improvements to the property.”
Freeman is looking forward to a slower pace of life after going 100 miles per hour for over three years.
“I had to sell it to keep my sanity intact,” he said. “To do it right takes a lot of energy and time. I just couldn’t continue to do both things. I love the Wanderoo. It was a project I’ve been very passionate about. It was time to hand it off to someone else to run it and continue to develop the property. I put my mark on it. I was just a temporary placeholder in the history of the property and the new owners will just make it just that much better. I like these guys a lot.”