Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Warm Springs Ranch gets makeover

Ketchum approves development agreement, gets look at possible design


By JON DUVAL
Express Staff Writer

Design plans for the Warm Springs Ranch Resort have been changed once again, to a more circular shape that could be lower than the 93 feet granted it by the city of Ketchum.

The city approved the project's planned-unit-development and annexation applications last month.

Mark Philp, lead architect for Park City-based developers DDRM Greatplace, gave a presentation to the City Council and members of the public at a meeting Monday.

The new design, which is subject to approval of the Ketchum Planning and Zoning Commission via the design review process, is aimed at mitigating the financial risk presented by the current condition of the national economy and debt markets.

To that end, the developer has altered the design from one large, mostly linear structure for the core hotel building to a circular design with portions to be constructed at separate times without affecting the overall operation of the resort.

By a development agreement approved by the council at the same meeting, the 78-acre resort will be operated at a four- or five-star standard and include a 538,151-square-foot luxury hotel along with a nine-hole golf course, spa, event house, villas, estate lots and workforce housing for 93 employees.

In the previous design, the hotel was to have nine floors, one of which would be underground, and a maximum height of 93 feet, well above the 44-foot zoning restriction.

Joy Kasputys, community liaison for the developer, said during an interview that the new design could lower the hotel's height by an as-yet unspecified amount.

A semi-circular circular section of the hotel, facing east, would be constructed in the first phase of the project, with two more curved portions added over the next two phases.

"At the end of phase one, we'll have a functioning hotel," Kasputys said. "This design will keep the city from getting a hole in the ground or a half-completed, non-functioning project."

The new design found support with the council.

"The project actually looks more interesting to me than the original monolith of timber and stone," Councilman Charles Conn said during the Monday meeting.

However, DDRM Greatplace CEO Stan Castleton pointed out that the design was preliminary and subject to change, as is the phasing schedule.

The developer presented a schedule that forecasts the design review process to last nine months and construction to begin after four years. During the interim, the developer would begin presales, looking to raise $53 million, or half the cost of the hotel construction, to receive debt financing once the market turns around.

Initial construction on the project, termed Phase Zero, would include work on the hotel, including the parking structure, laundry and maintenance facilities, and meeting space.

The development agreement sets out that restoration of Warm Springs Creek within the resort property will be completed with 10 years, though the council urged the developer to undertake this part of the project as soon as possible.

A definite phasing schedule will be determined during the design review process and approved by the council. The date of the first design review hearing has yet to be set.

Jon Duval: jduval@mtexpress.com




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