By Bay Stephens EBS Staff Writer
BIG SKY – The Wilson Hotel, Big Sky
Town Center’s first branded hotel, is on schedule for a grand opening in June
along with the adjacent mixed-use Plaza Lofts building. Both projects will
bring additional restaurants and retailers to Big Sky. More residential development
in Town Center is on the horizon, along with the potential for a night club and
bowling alley.
The master plan for Town Center was
approved by the county in 2000 and a hotel has been a key aspect of that plan.
“This has been a real long-term
plan and one of the lynchpins is coming to fruition now, so we’re really
excited about that,” said Bill Simkins of Simkins Holdings, LLC, the master
developer of Town Center. “It’s been a real missing element in the meadow area,
not having a full-service hotel. We’re really looking forward to its
completion.”
Lone Mountain Land Company, a development
branch of CrossHarbor Capital Partners, acted as the project developer of the
hotel, buying the land from the Simkins family for projects that align with the
Town Center vision, abiding by architectural guidelines designed to create
continuity. LMLC has developed several other buildings, such as 25 Town Center
Avenue, which houses Compass Cafe and 47 Town Center Avenue, home to Lotus Pad.
The new hotel stands to increase body heat in Big Sky’s downtown, providing
substantial lodging apart from the resort.
As a Marriot Residence Inn, each room
will have a kitchenette giving vacationers the option to eat in, especially
during extended stays of four to seven nights, a common length for ski trips.
The number of employees hired to
run the hotel will be 40 to 50, excluding the restaurant and retail, vice
president of planning and development for Lone Mountain Land Company Bayard Dominick
said. LMLC is working closely with the Yellowstone Club on workforce housing
solutions but are not ready to announce a plan yet, according to Dominick.
The hotel’s lobby windows will
afford a direct view of Lone Mountain over an outdoor pool, which will be open
year round and include a heated pool deck and barbecue area, while a sliding
window will grant access to the lobby bar adjacent to the deck. Dominick said
the pool will serve both hotel guests and locals.
“We look forward to having a lot of
locals-friendly activities and events here to draw people in and make this a
real community gathering place,” he said.
Free breakfast is included for
guests and will be integrated into the lobby area, overflowing into the
3,000-square-foot event space during peak visitation times of year. The events
room, capable of holding 300 people and dividing into two distinct spaces, has
already been booked for two weddings. Dominick said they would like to use the
space for events such as ski team banquets and community fundraisers.
On the hotel’s south side, a
5,000-square-foot restaurant space will combine with two retail spaces of 1,800
and 4,000 square feet to form the commercial space. Dominick said LMLC is near
finalizing leases with tenants but at this time is not ready to announce occupants.
Adjacent to this commercial space
on the south side of the hotel is the Town Center Plaza completed this fall,
which will be the new home of the summer farmers market as well as concerts and
myriad other events. The hotel provides ATM access and public restrooms sized
for events in the plaza. The restaurant spaces in both the Wilson and the Plaza
Lofts building will interface with the plaza with patio seating.
“They’ve done an amazing job
developing the plaza,” Dominick said of Big Sky Town Center. “We think this is
going to become a real critical hub of Big Sky and the amount they’ve invested
here is really a testament to that.”
Both Dominick and Simkins agree
that overall, the Wilson will breathe life into Town Center and Big Sky as a
whole.
“I think it’s going to be real
transformative, a gamechanger, because you’re going to have a lot of visitors
coming in and that will really spur on a lot more growth for our merchants,”
Simkins said.
Along with the Wilson, the Plaza
Lofts is set to open sometime in April, followed by a grand opening in June,
according to Dominick. The Blue Buddha Sushi Lounge and Sky Boutique have
targeted openings in June as well, with The Barrel Room, a winery by Corx in
Bozeman, also aimed at an early summer opening. Apartments will occupy the Lofts’
upper levels.
Across the street directly south of
The Wilson and Plaza Lofts, Dominick pointed out construction crews leveling
the parking lot and footprint of another LMLC building, the designs of which
are still being finalized. It would be similar to the 47 Town Center Avenue
building that houses Lotus Pad, with
apartments—three- and four-bedroom units—on the second and third floors and a
ground floor of retail and restaurant space.
Dominick said of the restaurant
space on this building: “We’re actually putting in a full basement with extra
height ceilings so we could potentially do a night club there.”
Simkins said, based on their
research and the scuttlebutt around town, that another hotel may be called for
in the wake of the Wilson’s completion, one that hits a higher-end demographic.
He also said the team would love to add a bowling alley to Town Center,
although there are no plans in place at this point.
After 20 years into the development
of Town Center, Simkins said the project is approximately 55 percent built out.
“A lot of people think that it’s
pretty explosive growth but for us it’s been a long time coming, so it’s nice
seeing the buildings going up,” Simkins said. “Over the long period that we’ve
worked on this project, it doesn’t feel quite as explosive.”
According to a Jan. 15 email from
Town Center Project Manager Ryan Hamilton, 491 total residential entitlement
units are currently approved for Town Center, which includes multi-family and
single-family housing, and upper story “apartments” in the commercial district.
Approximately 235 of these residential units are either built or under
construction in Town Center.
More housing is likely to come
online in the next 24 months, Hamilton said, depending on what project
developers propose to Town Center. It’s unclear whether that housing will help alleviate
Big Sky’s housing shortage as some may end up in the rental market and others
up for ownership.
