The new owners of the DeJoria Center at High Star Ranch in Kamas discussed tentative plans for the property publicly for the first time Oct. 14.
Those include building a new hotel, underground parking garage and 17 homes, the details of which are subject to change.
George Wright acknowledged before the Kamas City Council he and the other new owners “have been as quiet as we possibly can” until now.
“We've sort of taken the approach that we're — reluctantly but willingly — willing to have some short-term bewilderment, frustration, all that,” Wright told Kamas City councilmembers Oct. 14. “Everyone wants to hear from us, but we don't want to step into a meeting where we start explaining some of our ideas without them being fully where they need to be.”
He admitted some apprehension about the Oct. 14 meeting because the hotel plans aren’t complete.
High Star Ranch’s development agreement, which the new owners inherit, allows a hotel with up to 150 rooms and 170,000 square feet.
The reason for the meeting was to ask the city of Kamas for a public infrastructure district (PID) to finance the development.
PIDs allow developers to issue low interest rate, municipal-style bonds. They then impose a property tax to pay off the debt only on future property owners within the PID’s boundaries.
The DeJoria owners said the PID would only include the land they own, and it wouldn’t include existing residents. That means they wouldn’t have to pay the tax.
But city attorney Joel Yellowhorse, who said he’s “paid to be negative,” asked councilmembers to consider that people who purchase property within the PID will become constituents.
He said they might become the loudest voices in future citywide tax discussions.
“Ten, you know, 15 years down the line, taxes have to go up. It's going to be these people that are living in this PID area, they're going to come to you and say, ‘Hey, my tax bill is ginormous now, please don't raise taxes to fix the sewer system,’” Yellowhorse said.
The PID’s draft governing documents say it could raise up to $50 million. A second discussion is scheduled for Oct. 28, with a possible council vote Nov. 17.
One of Wright’s partners, Orem developer Mitch Burton, said the team would like to have a PID in place before Christmas.
“And then take advantage of the paperwork and the planning and getting all the permits and stuff that we need through the winter and start [construction] next spring,” he said.
Burton said the hotel would be a five-star Marriott hotel, while emphasizing that the details will change throughout the planning process. He also indicated the DeJoria Center itself may not be going away.
“What we've learned is the event center drives the hotel, not the other way around,” he added. “The hotel won't affect the event center whatsoever.”
A third DeJoria partner, Shayne Starr, said they would like to offer existing Kamas residents discounted hotel rooms and access to amenities as well as use the PID to restore Beaver Creek Park.
He indicated they hope to reopen the High Star Ranch Country Store & Cafe too.
The store and the rest of the DeJoria Center-related businesses closed in December 2024.
