What’s happening?
The campground will still have seven cabins that are available for the public to rent, said Randy Sell, assistant director of park operations, during a Feb. 4 city council meeting. The cabins being sold were located on sites vulnerable to flooding from Grapevine Lake and have since been converted to RV sites.
Grapevine City Council members greenlit selling the cabins after hearing a presentation from Sell. The cabins will be sold to the public at market value between $25,000-$40,000, Sell said.
Most of the cabins being sold were manufactured in 2006, he said. The campground’s newer cabins were moved to higher cabin sites within the park and will still be available for rent, according to a staff presentation.
The Vineyards Campground and Cabins park is located on 54 acres along Grapevine Lake’s southern shore. The campground offers a mix of RV and cabin sites for rent and direct access to Grapevine Lake.
The cause
A flooding event during the summer served as a catalyst for staff to consider what they should do about six sites that were vulnerable to flooding, Sell said. The sites have historically held cabins that can be costly to remove before water rises too high, he said.
There is also a challenge in timing when to remove the cabins before the water gets too high, he said. In addition to concerns from increased flooding, demand for cabins is not as strong as demands for RV sites.
Sell estimated cabins see an occupancy rate between 30% and 35% year-round for cabins while RV sites maintain an occupancy rate of 85% and higher. RV sites also have a higher return on investment compared to cabin sites, according to a staff memo.
The cabins were removed from the sites in 2024. Four of the sites were converted to RV sites that began renting to the public in November. Two more are expected to be made available in the spring.
The seventh cabin that’s expected to be sold is the campground’s Gatehouse which has been in use since 2015 or 2016, Sell said. The Gatehouse has worked well for the campground but city staff are looking to replace it as they consider future expansion of services, he said.
“Over those years our operations have changed a little bit,” he said. “The increase in demand and the way we operate—we’ve learned that that’s not sufficient for us.”
What’s next?
The cabins expected to be up for sale are listed on the campground’s website. Two cabins were manufactured in 2010 and the remaining cabins were manufactured in 2006, according to the website.
The sale will open Feb. 13th and close March 13th. Officials will host an open house from 12-4 p.m. Feb. 12 at 1299 Oak Grove Loop N. in Grapevine.
