A handful of people have called on Ketchum to demand that Sun Valley Resort provide a new active park as part of a new hotel and residential complex on 75 acres at River Run. Ketchum already has one active and four passive parks.
The resort says it can't provide a park. It was fine for the public to ask, but given the economic stakes involved, the Ketchum City Council shouldn't let the resort's refusal become a deal breaker.
The St. Regis Deer Crest Hotel opened in Park City, Utah, last week and is the city's newest five-star-rated facility. The developer is DDRM and Stan Castleton, the same group that has approval to develop a new hotel in Ketchum.
The St. Regis isn't the only five-star in Park City; there are two others as well—the Montage and the Stein Eriksen.
Contrast this with the Sun Valley area, where lodging selections are missing a few stars, even though they are cozy and comfortable.
However, the competitive truth is that competing resorts have luxury lodging options, and the Sun Valley area needs some new hotels.
While it's true that development of new lodging options is no panacea for the ills of the local economy, they will be key to lining up the pieces of the economic Rubik's cube, which include marketing, air service, recreation opportunities and lodging.
It's no secret that financing commercial developments like hotels is currently difficult. It's also no secret that the Roaring '90s are over and that with them went the ability of cities and developers to Christmas-tree every new project that comes down the pike.
