During a panel discussion about the state of the local ski industry Monday night at the Park City Library, Deer Valley President and COO Todd Bennett offered unprompted remarks about negotiations between the resort and Mayflower developer Extell.
“We continue to talk with Extell on the opportunity," Bennett said.
"It’s a big opportunity. What I will say though if we do come to an agreement with Extell — and it is going well… the dialogue is good, it’s an incredibly complicated opportunity and deal — but assuming things go forward. If it does go forward, first and foremost we’re going to maintain the Deer Valley character and legacy.”
Bennett also touched on the often-asked snowboarding question.
“The number one question I always get is: If you operate Mayflower, will you allow snowboarding? I’m going to say this carefully so I don’t get misquoted.
"If it’s run by Deer Valley, it will be Deer Valley, and it’ll continue to be everything you know of Deer Valley," he said.
"So there would be no snowboarding on the Mayflower side if we are the operators.”
Mayflower is under construction; it’s located next to US-40 across from Jordanelle Reservoir in Wasatch County. When complete, it will offer 15 lifts and 4,000 skiable acres, and roughly a dozen summer trails.
The Mayflower is located within the MIDA project area. MIDA stands for Military Installation Development Authority; it’s a state agency created by the Utah Legislature in 2007 to develop military land in Utah, and is overseeing the project.
Extell is the Mayflower developer - it purchased the resort property in 2017, and its plans include building hotels, residences, and a plaza at the base area.
That’s not the only deal in the works for Deer Valley. It’s currently in front of the Park City Council with plans to redevelop its Snow Park parking lot into a village with hotels, restaurants, and ski-in ski-out access. The council must decide whether to give Deer Valley a portion of public road it wants to incorporate into its design.
Bennett told the packed Jim Santy Auditorium Tuesday that a potential partnership with Mayflower could work in conjunction with those development plans.
“We are looking at gondola transportation networks that would start essentially in Mayflower and could go all the way down into Snow Park,” he told the room.
He added that the new resort will increase pressure on Deer Valley and Park City Mountain to expand workforce housing, given that Mayflower will need employees and it may be more convenient employer for some, especially if they live in the Heber area.
Deer Valley recently announced it will go in front of the city’s planning commission this fall, with a project that includes over 200 workforce housing units at a property off Bonanza Dr.