From lakefront real estate to iconic property ownership, Okoboji native helps lead region into the future

June 30, 2025

It should have been apparent from the time Michael Jensen’s father called on him to help during a busy event at the family business, Okoboji Boat Works, that the next generation had an entrepreneur’s DNA.

By the end of the day, 12-year-old Jensen had sold two boats himself.

“He gave me $200, which, looking back, I got ripped off big time,” he said, laughing. “But I think that did start the entrepreneurial angle on things. Even the sales and talking, you figure out a lot about people that way.”

Jensen has figured out a lot about how to do business in the Iowa Great Lakes region. He’s a top-producing residential real estate agent whose signs dot the landscape along sought-after lakefront homes.

He’s a landlord to about 60 rental home designed to offer workforce housing in the area.

He’s a commercial real estate agent, representing national and local tenants and landlords and putting together deals like the one last year that sold his former family business’ location and other property in the Smith’s Bay area.

He’s also the owner of or has participated in deals to preserve or redevelop some of the area’s most well-known properties, including the 80-year old Nutty Bar at Arnold’s Park Amusement Park and most recently the almost 125-year-old Central Emporium retail center.

“I love that in a small town you can handshake a deal,” Jensen said. “It’s a really good way to do business. It’s a way you can do business and still sleep at night and feel comfortable and get things done.”

Deep roots

Jensen’s great-grandmother was the first in the family to buy a home in the area in 1919. His father graduated high school here, and he was raised “a thoroughbred park rat,” he joked.

Arnold’s Park Amusement Park became the backdrop for some of his first small-business ventures, including moped rentals he ran while still in college and rental homes that became the basis for the start of his real estate career.

After graduation, he worked in the pre-recession real estate boom in Florida before returning to his roots in the Okoboji area.

“When I started, I think I was like the 130th Realtor in the county — for a county of 50,000 people,” he said. “By the time my dad joined me in 2011, he was No. 65, so we had lost half the agents in that time frame.”

Jensen distinguished himself by embracing technology — he thinks he was the first in the area to have a website — and building relationships.

The Okoboji area draws from a 200-mile ring, he said, attracting a lot of business from Sioux Falls and Sioux City but expanding as far as the Twin Cities and even nationwide for those with personal ties to the area.

“Reputation-wise, your good reputation can spread fast, and your bad reputation can spread super-fast,” he said. “Which is great. It keeps everyone honest.”

While inventory was “an absolute screamer” situation of multiple offers during the pandemic, values plateaued in the past two years, and activity is more normalized, he said.

“Which is OK, because when you look back, we doubled (in valuation) since 2019.”

Commercial projects

A major transaction last year to acquire a portion of longtime Okoboji business leader Butch Parks’ portfolio began with a simple question: how to remove some docks from Smith’s Bay.

His client, Big Spirit Lake Holdings, ultimately ended up acquiring the former Boat Works property there, which is being demolished and will turn into single-family lots, in addition to the  building for longtime local restaurant O’Farrell Sisters.

“It became clear pretty quick that this was going to be a net gain and a net benefit to go ahead and do that,” Jensen said.

As part of the deal, he became the owner of the Central Emporium, a popular shopping destination made up of small retailers. It’s not exactly off-brand for him, either.

“Last year, I restored a huge building in Milford (Iowa), tuck-pointing the brick and all that. I did another one in Spirit Lake and rebricked the building,” he said. “I did the axe bar (The Throwing Post) behind Captain’s (Getaway), so this is right on track. This is just the biggest, oldest building.”

He tackled it with gusto, though, getting started in January as soon as ownership was official despite less-than-ideal conditions.

“We hit the ground running Jan. 31, completely remodeled the lake side of the building and removed all the windows, had the brick stripped and re-tuck-pointed. There’s all new windows, all new siding,” he said. “The Emporium looks completely different now. We made great progress, and the good thing is everything we touched, if we were working on it, we wanted to make sure we were fixing it correctly so we don’t have to worry about it for another 50 years.”

The lower-level restaurant now has a new operator — a franchisee for Des Moines-based Mullets restaurant.

“The community has been overwhelmingly supportive,” said Jack Jacobs, managing partner for the franchise group. He and his wife, Jessica, now live in Brandon, though she grew up in the Okoboji area.

She opened a boutique there last fall, and he connected with a business partner, which led to restaurant ownership.

“I worked for a few restaurants here, and we’ve been looking for probably 15 years at purchasing a business in the Okoboji area, and it just was never the right opportunity,” he said.

Unlike in Des Moines, where Mullets focuses on breakfast and lunch only, all three meals at served in Okoboji.

“A big part of my goal is to make sure we’re always trying to service the community, the people that are here all year, because we will be open all year,” Jacobs said.

As the building’s owner, Jensen “has been an absolute pleasure to work with,” he added. “I think he’s really put his money where his mouth is. I see him talking to all the business owners, not just the ones that pay the most in rent. I just couldn’t be happier.”

The retail storefronts are fully occupied, “and there’s always a waitlist for shops,” Jensen said.

At O’Farrell Sisters, where Jensen is the LLC’s manager, sisters Millisa and Lacey Reynolds own and operate the restaurant that dates back to 1947.

“The history is on the walls, literally, there,” Jensen said. “We need those quirky little spots to go get breakfast and lunch. I remember going there as a kid with my family. I bring my kids there. I think that’s important to maintain.”

That’s the unique role Jensen is emerging to play in the area, Jacobs said.

“He’s really, really intentional about the history, and I think … seeing a need for someone to be the torch bearer,” he said. “Who’s going to bring this into the next generation? Who’s going to tie the history into the future? And I think he’s done an incredible job doing that.”

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