This rendering shows the proposed Warm Springs Ranch Resort hotel as it would be viewed from Flower Drive on the opposite side of Warm Springs Road. Three of the hotel’s nine floors would be below the grade of Warm Springs Road, with one level of parking completely underground.
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The proposed Warm Springs Ranch Resort will have to take a step back before it can move forward.
New square-footage calculations presented by the developer at a public hearing on Monday prompted the Ketchum City Council to remand a portion of the application to the Planning and Zoning Commission for further analysis.
In front of a capacity crowd at the Presbyterian Church of the Big Wood, Stan Castleton, CEO of Park City-based DDRM Greatplace, said economic conditions have necessitated flexibility in the resort's plan.
"The financial changes in the past two weeks have been mind boggling," Castleton said. "The challenge is to create a project compelling enough to obtain financing."
To this end, the development team unveiled on Monday a new calculation of 620,146 square feet for the maximum size of "Block 1," which would include a five-star, 93-foot-high hotel, workforce housing for at least 90 employees and several townhomes.
This comes on the heels of a submittal to the city in mid-November, which set the upper limit for this section of the resort at 695,486 square feet, nearly 150,000 square-feet more than the plan recommended for approval by the commission in June.
Castleton said the increase is largely made up of 30,000 square feet needed for additional circulation space, resulting from a different building layout from the previous design. The space could also be required in the event that the developers decide to include Mariel's Kitchen, a studio designed for Mariel Hemingway to host a televised cooking show.
However, the changes would not impact the "tent" concept, which includes different heights and masses in different sections of the hotel.
Because the city's planning staff did not have enough time to analyze possible impacts of the revision, the council believed it prudent to have the commission take another look. The commission will meet on Monday, Dec. 8, not only to review effects of the new size calculation, but also the ratio of "hot beds" to the overall size of the hotel, a potential increase in the number of parking spaces and if the project still qualifies for an affordable housing waiver by fitting within the city's definition of a hotel.
Castleton has maintained that the project would have a minimum of 120 beds available in the rental pool, but that in order to secure necessary financing, these rooms might be sold as condominium suites, but function as traditional hotel rooms.
As with the size of the project, Castleton said he requires flexibility with the details of the type and number of rooms included in the hotel to maximize the chance of success if the council approves the planned unit development application.
However, the changes did nothing to assuage the concerns of residents already opposed to the size approved by the commission.
"I don't feel like this is in the spirit of Sun Valley," Ketchum resident Lauren Young said. "This is more of a town than a resort destination."
Similar upscale hospitality development is happening in other resort towns, with the Four Seasons moving into Jackson Hole in 2003 and more recently in Park City, where both St. Regis and Waldorf-Astoria are scheduled to open hotels next year. Summit County Commissioner Bob Richer told the Salt Lake Tribune this week that these projects should have a positive effect on the resort's economy.
"These help make us something special," Richer told the Tribune. "High-end hotels are an amenity that people who frequent (world-class ski resorts) expect. It's in our economic best interest to make sure a Summit County vacation experience is a special experience for these people."
Warm Springs Ranch resort schedule
Monday, Dec. 8: P&Z.
Wednesday, Dec. 10: City Council public hearing.
Thursday, Dec. 11: City Council deliberation.
