Triple Canopy Concert Venue to Become 1,000-Site RV and Manufactured Home Resort

The Triple Canopy Ranch concert venue 20 miles east of Lake Wales will take on new life in 2020 as a resort with over 1,000 sites for manufactured homes and RVs and a full range of resort style amenities. The developers say the Resort at Canopy Oaks should be built out with a grand entrance on CR 630 within a year and ready for its first full season in the fall of 2020.

"It's going to be a big, big project – a multiyear deal," said Tristan Farrell, president of the Resort at Canopy Oaks. "It is the biggest new park in Florida and will be one of the nicest in the state."

Farrell said the resort will feature a 10,000-square-foot clubhouse, tournament style pickleball courts, bocce, shuffleboard, fishing and about 200 acres of green space with trails for walking and biking. Built for the concert venue, the property already has a 60-by-50-foot tiki hut with full bar, lakes, ponds with bridges and fountains and volleyball courts. Farrell said the resort plans to partner with nearby Indian Lake Estates by building a golf cart path to connect to the ILE clubhouse and golf course. The partnership will enable residents to have a golf option without the resort needing to build its own course.

"What's cool about our place as well is we're retaining 50 percent of the property for green space," Farrell said.

In conjunction with the Lake Wales Chamber and Economic Development Council, the Resort at Canopy Oaks will be hosting a ribbon cutting and ground breaking ceremony from 5:30-8:30 p.m. July 11. For details and reservations visit the website at http://www.resortatcanopyoaks.com. The event will include complimentary food and an open bar, a live band and raffle with cash donations to benefit the nonprofit Ramon Theater in Frostproof. The theater is a 1920s restored movie house now featuring oldies tribute concerts and murder mystery dinners, which should be popular with the Canopy Oaks residents. The Resort is located at 16950 CR 630, just southeast of Indian Lake Estates and about 18 miles from Frostproof.

Farrell said the Canopy Oaks property will be divided into villages – one a 55+ manufactured home community and another for RVs that he believes will be primarily retirees but will allow all ages. Residents will buy their manufactured homes from a builder working with Canopy Oaks and then lease their lots from the resort.

Before Triple Canopy Ranch was purchased in 2014 and underwent a multimillion dollar renovation as a concert venue, the property had been used for offroad and mud events. The first major music festival, CountryFlo, was held in 2016, but the ranch never achieved its potential as a concert and event venue. Farrell said he expects the resort to be a better use.

Canopy Oaks is a subsidiary of Atlanta area developer Rocklyn Homes, which has expanded into Florida with single-family home developments in Broward County. The property already has the proper zoning, engineering is under way and permitting should be completed in about four months, Farrell said. The company has employed Chris Miller, a Sebring contractor, as its full-time construction manager.

Farrell said the resort will be open for business in the spring of 2020 and he plans to offer promotional stays and possibly some summer programs, but he really expects major growth when snowbirds arrive for the season in November: "We're going big."