A year ago, Breezy Point Resort's expansion came with a single headline figure. The Spizzo family committed $17.8 million, and $8.5 million of it went to Ace Valley, a new par-3 course on the site of the old Traditional Golf Course. As of mid-October 2026, Ace Valley is still under construction. The Chocolate Ox, a smoked-meat roadhouse, and a relocated coffee shop are already serving customers.
So the project is being finished in the reverse order of how it was announced. The pieces that need the least time to build, and that work for a Tuesday night rather than a golf trip, came first. The marquee course comes last.
Two groundbreakings, one year apart
The first shovels went in on Saturday, October 4, 2025, at the Traditional clubhouse, and construction was scheduled to start two days later. The Pine and Lakes Echo Journal reported at the time that everything on the list would be built and opened "over the course of the next 18 months." That puts the target at about April 2027. Ace Valley was projected to open for play on Memorial Day weekend 2027.
The second groundbreaking was on Monday, October 5, 2026, this time for the Ace Valley clubhouse. The Echo Journal's report on that ceremony now gives the course's target as "summer 2027."
The building has also changed between the two announcements. The 2025 plan called for a three-level clubhouse with a central Social Club, pickleball courts, a rooftop deck, and TVs aimed at the course. The 2026 description is a two-story clubhouse with Happy Dave's, a bar and social dining concept, plus a pro shop and gathering space. The name honors Dave Gravdahl, who was the resort's general manager for 47 years.
"We're excited to see Ace Valley move from a vision to something our community and guests can see taking shape," resort president David Spizzo told the Echo Journal at the October 5 groundbreaking.
The contractors credited at the ceremony were Hy-Tec Construction, Widseth Design, Pratt's Excavating, Borden Excavating, and Central Lakes Landscape.
What you can walk into right now
While the golf site was being graded, the smaller pieces of the plan opened one after another.
Caribou Coffee House & Bakery went first. By March 2026 it had moved to a new spot beside the gift shop in the remodeled lobby. The Echo Journal's Business Bites column placed it across from the space being prepared for the candy shop.
The Chocolate Ox was expected to open in May and is now running. The resort's dining page lists it as open daily from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., with ice cream, handmade candies, gifts, and a flower-lined patio.
The North Star Roadhouse at 30898 Ranchette Drive is the "new Roadhouse featuring a Southern Pride smoker" that the 2025 announcement promised. According to the resort's page, it smokes local meats and has golf simulators, big screens, and a self-serve tap wall with more than 20 taps. It's open 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and until midnight on Friday and Saturday. The kitchen closes at 9 p.m., and the page warns the bar may close an hour early if it's empty.
The Roadhouse runs a weekly schedule:
- Tuesday, 5 p.m.: meat raffle
- Thursday, 6 p.m.: meat raffle plus virtual races
All of these hours come from resort pages last updated in late September, so check them before you go.
Most of the golf that's open now is on courses the expansion didn't replace. Whitebirch has 2026 rates and online tee times, and its published fall rate period runs through October 17. Deacon's Lodge, the Arnold Palmer design that winds through 500 acres, is still the resort's other 18-hole championship course.
What's going up on the old Traditional course
The resort says the original Traditional Golf Course dated to 1921. Its site will hold two short courses, both connected to the new clubhouse.
Ace Valley is a 12-hole par-3 course designed by Andy Staples. It's planned to have lighted holes for evening play, an island-green bonus hole with a progressive jackpot, a rooftop tee shot, and a large social putting course. The holes are built as "templates," modeled on famous holes from other courses. Staples summed up the idea in the 2025 announcement: "You can travel the world to play the best and most famous golf templates, or you can hit a dozen of them in a single, easy trip to central Minnesota." Resort general manager Eric Hart picked Staples from 11 proposals, after inviting nearly 30 architects to submit.
The Traditional 10 keeps 10 holes of the original course as a par-30 short course. The resort lists it as opening in summer 2027, the same season as Ace Valley. None of the sources reviewed say any of the original holes are open now. The resort's golf page describes both short courses as under construction.
The pieces still waiting on an update
Some items on the 2025 list haven't had a public update yet:
- The liquor store was named by owner Bob Spizzo in the 2025 announcement. No public news on its opening or construction has been found.
- The marketplace was part of the $9.3 million pledged beyond the golf course. It also has no public update.
- The new marina was also announced. The resort still rents boat slips and watercraft through its current marina, but no public source says the new marina is finished.
- Whitebirch renovations were announced as work on three holes. The course is open, but no progress report on those three holes has been published.
The finished items are mostly rooms inside or beside existing buildings. The unfinished ones need grading, docks, or a whole new building, and a coffee shop moving down a lobby hallway takes less time than a lighted golf course.
This week, and next construction season
The resort's Northwoods Fall Festival runs over MEA weekend, October 16 through 18. The listing includes a pumpkin hunt, a Babinski Foundation event, hayrides, a candy crawl, a costume contest, live music, and crafts. Saturday of that weekend, October 17, is also the last day of Whitebirch's published fall rates.
Off the resort property, the city is lining up its own work for 2027. On October 5, the same day as the clubhouse groundbreaking, the Breezy Point City Council authorized $2 million in bonds to rebuild Buschmann Road. The Echo Journal reported that utility locates are planned for November, with main construction in spring, possibly as early as April. The council has also chosen Thrane Drive as its 2027 road project, at an estimated $355,000. Bidding is likely in January or February, with construction next summer.
That means summer 2027 is shaping up to bring road crews on Buschmann and Thrane while Ace Valley, the Traditional 10, and Happy Dave's are scheduled to open on County Road 11.
If you own on Pelican Lake or nearby and want to know how a project this size near the shore fits into what your property is worth, Sandy Smith Lakeshore Real Estate Group watches the resort's progress along with the lake itself. Schedule a free consultation, and we'll go through what's open, what's still on the drawing board, and how both affect your plans.
