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05/20/2007: "Developers working to complete purchase of Devils Nest; create new project"

“We are building a market right now,” said Monda Thompson, a public relations specialist from Omaha. Thompson is working with the development of a project she first dubbed Englewood Estates but is known to all of northeast Nebraska as Devils Nest.
Recent meetings with potential investors in Thompson’s development company, Devils Nest II, at the Nest, are promoting a great future for the undeveloped area.
The Devils Nest area was last promoted in the early 1970s by a group of investors interested in turning the wild, untamed wooded hills and valleys into a top-notch entertainment center for the Midwest.
Developers built a Yacht Club, a ski lift and lodge, and surveyors plotted lots for purchase complete with a water-sewer infrastructure. Some landowners even built a few getaways. A marina was scoped and work had begun for the boating facility. A rerun of a popular 1970s game show, Joker’s Wild, once offered a winning prize which consisted of a weekend at the Devils Nest.
But mostly it was just talk.

By the 1980s, all the hoopla had died down. Even though signage as travelors enter the development says it is a private area, the yacht club has been vandalized so often, it has no windows left. Today, water hydrants sprout from thick weeds as visitors slowly travel the steep hills and valleys to the real estate office building and Thompson’s residence. The sewer system is no longer usable or up to the EPA requirements.
Thompson said today there are four landowners who make the Devils Nest their year round home. Several weekenders have small cabins they visit quite frequently.
The lot sizes, plotted back in the 1970s, are now too small by current zoning regulations. Many landowners have been disappointed over the years to find their plans for building a cabin or home were too large for what they had invested in.
The Devils Nest II has plans for buying back those lots from the absentee landowners and working with them to solve the situation. The business is in the process of buying the 1,314 acre parcel of Knox County Lewis & Clark Lake front property from the Clifford and Nancy Ruzicka, who live in California but still have a home in Verdigre. The purchase agreement should be ironed out in 30-60 days.
“I’m so excited to be involved in this development,” said Thompson. “I’ve been working on this project for two and a half years and the money is finally coming in.” She indicated she has taken her time because she wants to be sure the potential investors are just right for the development.
Future plans call for a living area where the natural beauty of the region is enjoyed. The natural wildlife and physical characteristics will be maintained. It will be a hideaway for recreation enthusiasts with plans for developing the equestrian center, the marina and ATV and biking trails. It seems to be a proposal which will fit well in the area and today’s lifestyle. Many Knox County officials have supplied Thompson with letters of support.
Twenty years ago Thompson became familiar with the Yankton area and enjoyed ATV riding. Slowly she began to study the Nest’s features and in 2005 talked to the Ruzickas.
Now, Thompson has a set of priorities. Before the camping facilities can be developed near the equestrian center and boat rides become available out of the marina, organizers need to make sure all the requirements are met for the purchase agreement. Then they need to rebuild the six miles of entry road which then will be maintained by Knox County. And they need to sell lots.
An Icelander by birth, Thompson grew up in Crescent, Iowa. She has carefully been building research of The Nest – the name she will use to promote it. It reminds her of the wild and untamed land of Iceland where she was born.
“I want to do everything right this time so it sticks and The Nest lasts for years,” Thompson said.