Monaco acquired the land for the La Quinta property in 2006, paying $16.3 million for 80 acres. In spring 2007, it paid $8 million for the 20-acre property in Naples. It acquired the Bay Harbor property earlier this year, paying $2.8 million for 25 acres. Monaco hopes to have lots ready for sale in Bay Harbor and Naples sometime during the third quarter. Sales at the La Quinta property are slated to begin in the fourth quarter.

Monaco's resort initiative is being led by Monaco's president of resort operations since 2004, E. Randall Henderson Jr. Prior to Monaco, Henderson served as the president for Outdoor Resorts of America. "There is great opportunity in the luxury RV resort segment and we are moving forward aggressively…," says Henderson, who has developed 16 RV resorts in eight states over the past 25 years.

The company reported nearly $32 million in lot sales in 2006 and just over $12 million in sales in 2007. In 2006, the resort unit's operating profit was 26.9% or $8.6 million; in 2007, the segment's operating profit was negative $405,000. In the first quarter of 2008, net sales decreased by two-thirds to $2.4 million from $7.2 million in the same 2007 period and its operating profit was negative $747,000.

The declining results were attributed in part to having fewer lots available for sale as the two developed properties near the end of their sales cycle—the gap in sales Wanichek says the company hopes to avoid in the future. As inventories shrink, the company says there is greater competition within the company's own resorts from owners' re-sales. To combat that, the company added amenities to certain lots and discounted other lots.

"In addition, recent softening in overall real estate values and the declining sales in the RV market have had an impact on the demand for resort lots," the company states in its latest quarterly report. "The Company still expects that while sales may remain slower than expected, the need for luxury resort locations within the industry will remain strong."