The pre-construction work was funded with a loan from Salt Lake City-based MagnetBank. Jabara says several lenders have expressed interest in funding the construction loan. The pre-sale requirement for the construction loan likely will be 50%, a goal Jabara expects to achieve in early 2008. That would allow the first phase of construction--84 condominium units and six townhomes--to get under way that spring. While he wouldn't reveal the total development cost, Jabara says the pro forma gross sell-out price for all 454 units is approximately $300 million.
"We've had a number of buyers sign contracts," Jabara says. "It was slow through the summer but as the weather got colder and people started thinking about winter sales have picked up and are reaching a level we are very happy with."
Helping to attract interest are sales centers in both Brian Head and Las Vegas, the closest metropolitan area to the resort. Earlier this week about 300 people showed up at Jabara's personal residence in the exclusive Pinto/Palomino area to see the model he has built there and, for the event, covered with snow he shipped in from Brian Head.
Set in the southwest corner of Brian Head, 9,850 feet above sea level, Jabara's Summit at Brian Head is a 42-acre master-planned resort development. The development site is located approximately three hours from Las Vegas, four hours from Salt Lake City and five hours from Flagstaff, AZ.
Units will range in size from 700 sf to 1,900 sf. Each will have dual master bedrooms, a large balcony, three-sided gas fireplace, granite kitchen countertop, and wood-cased windows. Pricing for the smallest units will begin in the $200,000s, or about $350 per sf. Common area amenities will include winding walkways, scenic look-offs, and a plaza area that will features fire-pits and picnic areas with barbeque grills. There also will be basketball courts, picnic grounds and bocce ball facilities.
Jabara says part of the draw is that the operators of the ski mountain have in place a 10-year plan that calls for a golf course, another chairlift, and housing projects of its own. Jabara likens the current and planned growth to the major transformations that have occurred at the one-time small resort towns of Mammoth, Squaw Valley and South Lake Tahoe.
By having a residential project under way in a resort town with tight land constraints and significant environmental development constraints, Jabara says he doesn't feel nearly as exposed as some of the developers in more highly developed areas with a more competitive environment. That said, he says it's more challenging in terms of finding prospective buyers.
"Given that, our focus is on quality and on developing the first master-planned resort development at Brian Head, which we believe is the right direction given that the people in this community [Las Vegas], which is our principal market, almost all live in master-planned communities."
The Brian Head area was first opened for skiing in the winter of 1964. The area around the resort was incorporated as the Town of Brian Head in 1975. The Summit at Brian head project got under way in September. It is one of five residential developments poised to double the town's size in the coming years.
"Telluride, Park City, Breckenridge, Aspen, Mammoth, and Lake Tahoe are all areas that evolved from rustic rural mountain towns to very sophisticated, affluent resorts nestled in pristine environments," Jabara says. "For us, Summit at Brian Head can be the next major resort town in the western US to join this esteemed league of cities."
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