Town Center build-out plowing through Big Sky’s snowy winter

By Tyler Allen EBS Managing Editor

BIG SKY – Despite the heavy snowfall this winter, development in Big Sky Town Center is rolling along as scheduled.

Lone Mountain Land Co. is near completion of its Golden Stone residential project, its Wilson Hotel and Plaza Lofts developments should be finished by June 2019, and Haas Builders plans to complete its newest residential/commercial building this June.

The final two townhouses in the Golden Stone project should be done in February, according to Bayard Dominick, LMLC’s vice president of planning and development. The 24 rental units in the first six buildings—in the development that backs up to Town Center Park—are fully occupied, and the final two will open up eight more rental units, he said.

The steel and concrete work has been completed on the Wilson Hotel, and with framing of the third and fourth floors planned to start the week of Jan. 22, Dominick expects a total of 70 to 80 construction workers to be on-site at the Wilson and Plaza Lofts projects along Town Center Avenue for the foreseeable future.

A grand opening for the Wilson is planned for June 2019, and the Plaza Lofts, which will also include 20 one- and two-bedroom apartments, is expected to open one month before the hotel. “We’re starting to think about what we might do next,” Dominick said.

Connecticut-based Charter Realty & Development is leasing the commercial space in both buildings and have all but one location spoken for in the Plaza Lofts. Tenants will include Corx Winery, Blue Buddha Sushi Lounge, and Sky and Dabney boutiques on the retail side.

The hotel will include a 5,800-square-foot restaurant space, and Charter is currently in negotiations with potential tenants, but hasn’t signed any agreements yet, according to Charter Realty & Development Principal Dan Zelson. He added that the vision of downtown Big Sky is beginning to coalesce.

“We’re just really excited [Town Center Avenue] is clearly coming together as a main street,” Zelson said. “If you fast forward two years, it’s going to be the nicest main street of any ski town out West.”

A stone’s throw to the east of the Wilson Hotel site, Haas Builders expects to complete its latest residential/commercial project in June. The future home of The Cave Spirits and Gifts—in a nearly 4,000-square-foot space—the building will also include a restaurant, two office spaces and 10 residential apartments.

There is a restaurant interested in the nearly 2,900-square-foot location, but nothing has been signed, according to Cassandra Schroeder with Haas Builders. The apartments will include one two-bedroom and nine one-bedroom units, ranging from 775 square feet to nearly 1,200 square feet for the two-bedroom, she said.

They currently plan to keep the apartments on the rental market, to prevent potential buyers from offering them as short-term vacation rentals.

“The biggest goal is that we’re providing housing for the community,” Schroeder said.