When development is complete, Ameyalli will feature 22 “shared ownership homes,” a boutique hotel, a restaurant, and many of the standard amenities of a luxury resort like a spa and fitness center. But the project’s managing partner, Chuck Heath, also promises visitors an experience they won’t find anywhere else in the U.S.
"This is really different," he said. "This is about really bringing people in, helping them learn how to be healthier, and then being able to leave and incorporate that in their everyday life.”
To that end, Ameyalli will also feature a 50,000 square-foot “Wellbeing Center of Excellence.” And that center will have the imprint of one of the world’s biggest names in integrative medicine: Deepak Chopra.
"We've got Mr. Chopra involved from a design plan standpoint, from a programming standpoint, we're hoping he'll come up and even take residence here a bit," Heath said.
He said he met Chopra at a longevity conference a while back and shared his plans for the center with him. He said it was easy to convince him to become involved.
"He said it really matched with his vision,” Heath said. "His vision is really to help as many people as he possibly can."
But not all at once. He said Chopra and his foundation want to create a more intimate experience for the guests, so the resort will only accommodate about 250 people at a time. And Heath said that smaller scale experience fits well with the needs of the surrounding community.
"When we got in here, the city and the neighborhood really wanted to be able to preserve some property for viewsheds," he said.
To protect those viewsheds, more than half of the 78-acre property will be preserved as open space. The Summit Land Conservancy owns two easements on the property totaling about 45 acres. The purchase was made possible with open space bond funds from both Midway City and Wasatch County, as well as private donations.
"We've worked really hard with the neighbors and the city to bring something that is a win-win for everybody," Heath said.
According to Midway City Planner Michael Henke, it’s also a win for the city budget. He said the new resort will help the city utilize Utah’s “resort communities tax” provision. It allows cities with a certain number of hotel rooms per resident to add another 1% to the sales tax. Henke said it funds about a fifth of the city’s budget.
"We actually are out of compliance right now," he said. "The state gave us notice, and we have three years to come back into compliance. So Ameyalli will help us to come back into compliance."
Henke said the city will also benefit in another way: The easement includes public trails through the property, one of which will access the site’s geothermal springs.
"All the other sources right now are really in private ownership and could be closed off to the public, really at any point," he said. "So this is something we could do to guarantee public access."
Henke said the city is considering improving an acre of land where people can enjoy the hot pots. One option would be to use the site's water to create "varying temperature-type pools that could be accessed by the public."
It’s that water that gives the resort its new name. Ameyalli is an Aztec word that means “spring” or “fountain.” And Heath said he hopes the resort will be a spring of health for the world.
"Our mission is to have healthier, happier people," he said. "I think especially in today's environment, there's a lot of divisiveness, there's a lot of one side, the other side. And we just feel that people really need to get healthy themselves and then help other people get healthy as well."
The groundbreaking for the first phase of the project is Tuesday, June 27. The first homes are expected to be complete in February 2024, and the clubhouse will be ready in June. The wellness center is scheduled to open in June of 2025.
