Ketchum calls for Dec. 9 meeting to decide fate of Jack Bariteau hotel project
By Eric Valentine
KETCHUM—Though it may not feel like it now, a few months after 2020 gets run in, the snow will melt and the ice will clear, meaning a number of projects that could change the urban landscape of this idyllic mountain resort town can begin breaking ground.
What follows is a rundown of what buildings may be going up in 2020 and 2021. Ketchum Mayor Neil Bradshaw sums it up this way: “The vision for 2020 is not about new projects, but rather executing on the ones we already have envisioned.”
Filling the Hole
Ketchum City Council has set a special meeting for Dec. 9 at 3:30 p.m. to determine if Trail Creek Fund—the LLC backing the lingering hotel development at Main and River streets—actually has the money developer Jack Bariteau says it has.
Bariteau informed the city that a loan has been secured and was to be recorded Dec. 2 at noon, just hours before the most recent Ketchum City Council session and nearly two months after an October meeting wherein the councilmembers declared the LLC in breach of its development agreement. At that meeting, the council told Bariteau funding would have to be secured in 60 days or the project would be no more.
“We needed time to look at everything that has been provided (by the developer),” Bradshaw explained. “So it was decided the special meeting would be set up.”
Funding had alluded the experienced Ketchum developer’s project for years, frustrating residents and especially neighbors of the property who have to stare at the deep, dirt hole across from high-profile properties at the town’s entrance. The property was purchased already in 2004, but before funding could be secured, the U.S. economy went into a tailspin and put the entire project at risk.
“I’ve never done anything so difficult in my life,” Bariteau told the council in October.
Warm Springs Warmup
In recent weeks, it was learned that a Southern California developer, Will Gustafson, of Santa Barbara, has agreed to purchase the popular 78-acre dog park known as Warm Springs Ranch. The property was formerly a golf course and restaurant, and it has seen other concepts for it come and go over the years. But now, Gustafson is in the front end of a 90-day due-diligence period where he can put together a proposal the city and residents can opine about.
Bradshaw had little to say about the news.
“At this point, it’s just a press story that something could be happening with a property that nothing has happened to for some time,” Bradshaw said.
The mayor said his focus is instead on getting affordable housing built in the city, along with the new fire station and city hall.