The Mayflower Mountain Resort developer, Extell, purchased property near the Jordanelle Reservoir Friday. Back in March, the Wasatch County Council agreed to turn land use authority of the site over the Military Installation Development Authority (or MIDA), the state-run entity overseeing the development of the resort, which lies alongside US Highway 40 across from the reservoir. And on July 19, the MIDA Board approved the master development agreement for the site.
The resort’s village base is about a mile away from the site, now dubbed the Marina West property. The centerpiece of the plan for this site is resort workforce housing. Extell's Senior Vice President of Development, Kurt Krieg, said having employee housing so close will benefit the surrounding area.
"It'll cut down on traffic and transit, and is within walking distance, a bike ride or a short shuttle ride," he said.
The site’s housing plan calls for 660 total units, including 140 affordable housing units for military members, public employees and others who qualify.
"We’re considering everything from dormitories to townhomes to apartments, really to make sure that we have a world class workforce for the resort itself," Krieg said.
Extell’s commitment to build affordable housing on the site was one reason Wasatch County agreed to turn over jurisdiction to MIDA back in March, according to Wasatch County Manager Dustin Grabau. Extell inherited that obligation from the previous owner, Stichting Mayflower, who Grabau said was unlikely to deliver on it.
"Not only are we getting the affordable housing commitment met, Extell has committed to building even more housing than was required," he said.
Grabau said the county will benefit from the deal in other ways. In exchange for turning over land use authority for this property to MIDA, the County will now be able to collect impact fees for construction on the other sites for the resort.
And with a couple of exceptions, the county will be able to preserve its ability to collect transient room taxes from the resort’s hotels. Under a previous agreement, MIDA was able to instead charge a resort tax, from which the county would get a cut.
"We had concerns that we were losing out" under that arrangment, Grabau said.
As for the next steps, Krieg said MIDA and Extell will now turn their attention to putting in the infrastructure required to support the site. He said a site plan will also need to be reviewed by MIDA’s Development Review Committee and then approved by the board.
A spokesperson for Extell said the company did not have an estimated timeframe for when the housing project would be completed.
