$140M Westin Hotel-Condo Next Up at Mammoth

MAMMOTH LAKES, CA-Intrawest Corp. of Vancouver will anchor its ski resort village here with a 230-unit condominium-hotel that will fly the Westin flag under a franchise agreement with New York-based Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. A $140-million endeavor, an Intrawest source tells GlobeSt.com, the project is scheduled to get under way this spring and be complete 24 months later. The Westin Monache will be the first full-service luxury property in the region and the flagship property of the Village at Mammoth. The Village is the mixed-use core of Intrawest’s Project Sierra, a 10-year, billion-dollar mountain resort covering 250 acres at the base of the Mammoth Mountain, one of the most visited ski areas in the US. Project Sierra includes 2,300 planned housing units, an 18-hole golf course and a pedestrian-only retail center.The Westin Monache will be the third venture between Intrawest and Starwood, following the Westin Resort and Spa at Tremblant, Quebec, which opened in 2000, and the Westin Trillium House at Blue Mountain in Ontario, which is scheduled to open in late summer. An Intrawest source says the partnership for the Westin Monache is a straight franchise agreement. Intrawest is the developer and Intrawest Hospitality Management will operate the hotel upon its completion, he says.Intrawest has interests in 10 mountain resorts in North America including Whistler Blackcomb, a host venue for the 2010 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games. The company also owns Canadian Mountain Holidays, the largest heli-skiing operation in the world and a 67% interest in Abercrombie & Kent, the world leader in luxury adventure travel. Last year at this time, Intrawest has just sold out the final release of homes in Grand Sierra Lodge, the third phase of the Village at Mammoth. Fifty-two one-, two- and three-bedroom resort condominiums were sold at prices ranging from $380,000 to more than $1.3 million. Grand Sierra Lodge is “a combination of full-ownership vacation real estate with the features and amenities of a luxury resort” where owners can place their property into an established rental arrangement. The difference between the Westin Monache and Grand Sierra Lodge, according to an Intrawest source, is in the size of the rooms. With larger units, Grand Sierra Lodge is more of a condominium development being operated like a hotel while the Westin Monache will look and feel more like a traditional hotel.The first ski lift at Mammoth Mountain was installed in 1955. Project Sierra began in 1996 when Vancouver, BC-based Intrawest purchased 33% of the Mammoth Mountain and June Mountain ski operations and all developable real estate owned by Mammoth Mountain Ski Area. In 1998, Intrawest upped its ownership to 58% and launched Project Sierra with Juniper Springs, a ski-in/ski-out neighborhood located at the base of the ski area.