Farris Hotel: 2008-2009 Home for YbHC
After a lot of hand-wringing and negotiations, YbHC has agreed to an exclusive lease for the Farris Hotel in downtown Eagle Lake for the 2008-2009 teal and waterfowl seasons. For those that may not know, the Farris is a one-of-a-kind train-coach inn built in 1912 when Eagle Lake was a train stop for various merchants riding the train in and out of Houston.
It is a large 2-story facility which currently sleeps 40 comfortably. It has a great bar, full commercial kitchen, dining halls, great room, outdoor patio, etc. Being off the square in downtown Eagle Lake, the property is ideally located in the center of the YbHC leases with no more than a 10 minute drive to the farthest lease.
The plans for operations in the hotel are still being formulated but currently it includes being open a fair amount during teal season (maybe 4 nights/week) and then 3 nights per week (Tuesday night and Friday afternoon until Sunday early afternoon) during the regular season. Current structure contemplated for membership use includes two levels for the YbHC leaseholders. The first level will be built into each lease program with a $125 assessment to each lease member and provides the "Lease Night" where each lease program for one Saturday night during the season gets to stay at the Farris with full amenities.
The second level (optional) gives a lease member for $375 (in addition to the $125) full rights to the lodge on the nights it is open. Bring a guest down (most nights other than Friday nights before openers which will be members only) and generally come and go as you please. A couple of other perks for the second level guys we are working the details out on include:
1. Booking the lodge for a private event on the nights the lodge is not open ($80 per man with a 5
man minimum)
2. Access to the "Lodge" Property. This includes a half section of corn in the Colorado river-
bottom (dove and goose hunting) and another small property located north of Eagle Lake
with a five acre pond (duck and dove hunting).
Members on more than one lease program are assessed lodge fees 1 time.
The current thinking is to ease into our "Lodge" transformation this year. The place has a maid and she will be around to keep the place clean and wash the linens. We will offer limited bartending through the scouts on most evenings the hotel is open. You will need to bring your own bottle or beer and set ups; but plenty of ice and tall glasses for mixing will be available. The kitchen is available for use but we will not have a cook except possibly on the Fridays before openers. It is a commercial kitchen so the possibilities are there. We plan to install several TV’s and a wireless network for internet access.
Management of the lodge is currently planned to be a combo of Rob Freyer and John Persha. This dynamic duo will be generally around the place and trying (key word) to keep it orderly. We will most likely have a link on the web page which allows the members (at the second level) to reserve nights and indicate if they will have a guest. With 40 beds and the ability to expand upwards if need be, we do not foresee a space issue except on the big nights before the openers where it will be members only.
So there it is. The details will be worked out over the next several months but a great facility is ours to make of it what we want. We are sure there are lots of questions. As we flesh this out, we will provide updates through the web portal. Suffice it to say things are changing for the better. We look forward to a great 2008-09 season.
