Sunday, August 19, 2007

More growth in Tahoe

Chateau at Heavenly Village due to open in summer 2009
Kathryn Reed, Special to The Chronicle

Sunday, August 19, 2007

(08-19) 04:00 PDT South Lake Tahoe - --

Two years from now, venerable Heavenly Mountain will legitimately be able to call itself a destination resort.

Colorado's Vail Resorts, which bought Heavenly, the third-largest ski resort in North America, in 2002, will operate two hotel-condominium projects across Highway 50 from the resort's gondola.

The first project, called the Chateau at Heavenly Village ( www.chateauheavenly.com), will be ready for guests in summer 2009. Demolition of mostly rundown motels and retail entities has been going on for the better part of this year, with construction now under way.

The 268 units are a mix of studios, one-, two- and three-bedroom units, with one four-bedroom unit. By locking off some rooms, 365 units could be on the rental market.

The full-ownership units will start at just less than $500,000. Officials are waiting to release definitive prices (until sales begin in late October or early November.)

A studio will be about 450 square feet. The parcels top out at about 2,500 square feet.

The second hotel-condo on the 11.5-acre parcel will be more of a boutique-style facility. The name is still up in the air. It will have 87 units that can be converted into 112 rentals. Rooms are expected to be a little larger. Build-out is targeted for winter 2010.

This is RockResorts' first foray into the California market, though many of its hotels are in ski resort towns. RockResorts is the brand name for Vail Resorts' portfolio of luxury lodging.

A 71,000-square-foot convention center that will double as an entertainment venue is a private-public project with the city. It will open when the Chateau does.

The hotels will be six stories - the same height as the two Marriott properties across the highway.

Kevin Lane, one of the owners of Lake Tahoe Development Co. which is building the $410 million hotel-convention center project, said Northern California - primarily the Bay Area and Sacramento Valley - is where the bulk of buyers are likely to come from.

"Proximity and location is what differentiates us from everything else," Lane said.

Heavenly is across the street, Nevada casinos are within walking distance and a semi-private beach is three blocks away.

A pedestrian overpass that still needs the necessary permits is proposed to cross the highway at the west end of the property and drop people near the gondola's ticket booth. An escalator, much like what RockResorts uses to transport people at Beaver Creek, Colo., would eliminate the hassle of walking up and down stairs in ski boots.

Heavenly will be an integral component of the Chateau.

"In part of the design of the hotel we will have a ski school and ticket counter where guests and owners can purchase lift tickets and lessons," said Blaise Carrig, chief operating officer of Heavenly. "If they are gong to be in ski school, there will be a waiting lounge so instructors will meet people right there and guide them over to the resort."

Carrig anticipates special events for owners ranging from ski fashion shows to technology events to what's new in equipment. Owners are likely to be offered first tracks once a week - that's where they get on the mountain before everyone else.

A goal of the project is to become LEED certified. At this point the developers don't know which level of Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification it will seek from the U.S. Green Building Council. Four ratings are given: basic, silver, gold and platinum. Silver is a possibility, but Lane doubts that will be achieved.

Energy-efficienct materials, parking for battery-operated vehicles and storm-water runoff treatments are some of the environmentally friendly aspects of the project.

Owners will have the option of putting their property into a rental pool operated by RockResorts, rent it themselves, have an outside agency rent it or keep it exclusively for themselves. However, owners may use the property only 60 days a year.

RockResorts will operate a 24-hour restaurant at the Chateau that will be bistro-style, with a deli attached. A pizza oven will be fired up, pastries offered in the morning and bottles of wine for sale for consumption in rooms, according to Lane.

Retail will be incorporated into both phases. Heavenly Sports will occupy 15,000 square feet. McP's, a popular watering hole in South Lake Tahoe, will operate about 10,000 square feet at the corner of Stateline Avenue and Highway 50 across from Harveys.

"It will feel more like his San Diego operation, more of a high-end Irish pub with live music," Lane explained of the restaurant-bar-nightclub.

As for other businesses, Lane said negotiations are continuing with local businesses that were displaced, as well as national outlets.

Although both lodging properties will have access to the 16,193-square-foot spa, it will be inside the Chateau. An outdoor pool and hot tubs will be on that property as well.

Developers expect the property to bring in 180,000 visitors a year who will pump $78 million into the South Shore economy.

This article appeared on page K - 12 of the San Francisco Chronicle

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