While all of the projects planned within the ski resort may take up to 30 years to finish, some buildings and a trail could open this year.
The developer is close to finishing construction of four apartment complexes with one-, two- and three-bedroom units. Two of those buildings will be ready as early as September. Extell will publish listings for those this spring.
The company also expects to open a new 5-mile trail on the mountain this summer.
“I think it’s at about 7,000 feet,” says Brooke Hontz, vice president of development for Extell Utah, the resort developer. It runs just above the village and dips into the valleys and comes back out onto the ridges, and then it’ll take off onto a north spur that does climb up to Spin Cycle. So, that’s one of our goals, is to get people onto our site but keep them safe. One of the challenges is connecting that down to the frontage road and having some parking without establishing a full trailhead.”
The development agreement requires Extell to develop 50 miles of trails in total.
Mayflower is an active construction site and no one is allowed on the site until the trails are completely built and officially opened to the public. That announcement will happen later this summer.
The company says the completed project, with about 3 million square feet of commercial and residential space, will compare in size to the Canyons area of Park City Mountain Resort.
According to Extell Executive Vice President of Development Kurt Krieg, the resort will build at least five ski lifts.
Other aspects of the skiing - and potentially snowboarding - experience there depend on a partnership with a ski operator.
“We're working closely with our neighbors — that's Deer Valley — we hope to figure out a joint effort with them,” Krieg says. “At this point, we're still in the dialog and going back and forth on different elements. But we think it's productive, and it takes time, you have to remember that these are long term operation efforts, you know, talking 199 year lease plus. So it's just not doesn't just turn on a dime.”
At earliest, he says people could ski there next season, but the 2024 to 2025 winter is the more realistic target opening.
Another major element of the project is new access roads called “portals” to connect Highway 40 to the resort. Those are underpasses beneath the highway, which the Utah Department of Transportation is building.
Krieg says he expects UDOT to start connecting the portals to the resort frontage road and add other finishing touches this summer.
Krieg also expects 60 other homes in and around the Pioche Village, a subdivision area with hundreds of homes planned, to hit the market this summer.
One of the most elaborate parts of the Mayflower project is a military hotel and conference center. Krieg says the 13-story, 650,000 square foot building is about halfway finished after breaking ground last June. It’ll have 55 homes and almost 400 hotel rooms, with some areas reserved for members of the military.
