Major Developments Get Green Light at Mammoth Lakes in Eastern Sierra

A wide range of major development projects are moving toward fruition at this eastern Sierra resort--this despite the economic crush of a once-in-a-decade drought.

As the new year begins, these projects are in the spotlight:

A $16-million resort and golf club, Doe Ridge, comprising a 150-room hotel, two restaurants, 4,300 square feet of commercial space, a health spa, pool, tennis courts, jogging trails and an 18-hole golf course, to break ground in April at Mammoth/June Lakes Airport.

A proposed $106.6-million development, Juniper Ridge, approved by the town council two weeks ago, which includes a 300-room hotel, 284 condominiums, 24,000 square feet of commercial space and Mammoth Mountain’s third base lodge.

Snowcreek, Mammoth’s second ski area. Preparation of an environmental impact statement began last week. Completion of the statement is expected in about six months. Work on the $536-million venture, which will include a golf course, hotels, condominiums, guest houses, restaurants and a convention facility, could commence in the spring of next year.

Other projects under way, planned or proposed:

--Lodestar, Alan Davis’ 1,800-unit development of condominiums and a hotel. Though bogged down in a lawsuit predating the incorporation of Mammoth Lakes, Lodestar could emerge soon as a viable project. An effort to settle the dispute is under way.

--A proposed transportation core on Meridian Boulevard and Minaret Road, with a gondola station and parking for 800 cars and 55 buses. Developer Tom Dempsey gave the town 10 acres of land for this purpose.

--A $23-million development, including a 200-room hotel, 200 condominiums, restaurants and miscellaneous support commercial units, adjoining the transportation core. The developer is the Rason Group, which owns the Hot Creek Ranch near Mammoth Lakes.

--Gateway Estates, to be launched in the spring by Bob Tanner and Bill Tuthill, consisting of 100 homes. The $120,000 to $170,000 dwellings will be built in a subdivision off Meridian Boulevard near California 203. Allan O’Connor is the architect.

--Mountainback, 27 new condominium units.

--The extension of Minaret Road to Meridian Boulevard.

--The completion of four-lane highway between Mammoth Lakes and the junction of U. S. 395.

Most immediate of the construction projects is Doe Ridge Resort and Golf Club, being developed just east of the airport terminal area by Jordan Glazov Ltd. Jordan Glazov is president of Glazov Aviation, fixed-base operator of the airport and operator of Mammoth Air Shuttle, which provides scheduled air service between Burbank and Mammoth.

The hotel, basically a two-story structure with four wings, will employ close to 200. It is scheduled to open in the winter of 1987-88.

Designed by Jim Colbert, PGA tour pro, Las Vegas; and Jeff Brauer, golf course architect of Arlington, Tex., the championship course will be the first in Mono County. It is due to open in summer of 1988.

At the airport, six new hangars are under construction, according to Glazov. “We expect that after the hotel and golf course are completed, we will build a new and larger terminal facility,” he said.

Architect Allan O’Connor, representing developers William Lyon, Orange County builder; and Jim Harper, Chicago financier, said last week he will immediately start discussions with a major hotel chain (the name was not disclosed) concerning the Juniper Ridge project. At the same time, he said he would be meeting with Mammoth/June Ski Resort owner Dave McCoy to discuss plans for the new base lodge.

The hotel and condominium project and base lodge will be built at the base of Chairlifts 15 and 24. Depending on the success of negotiations and other factors, the $36-million hotel may be built next year, with the condominiums followinga later, O’Connor said.

Plans for the $12-million base lodge call for a structure encompassing 120,000 to 150,000 square feet, larger than Warming Hut 2. It would be used for conventions, as well as for skier facilities.

A gondola would move skiers 2,900 feet from the transportation core to Base Lodge 3 and another would take skiers to the top of Mammoth Mountain, making stops at a midway station or stations, according to tentative plans.

Snowcreek Sales Up

Sales at Snowcreek Village, site of the new ski area, totaled $4.2 million in 1986, up from $1.9 million in 1985, according to Gail Frampton, vice president of Dempsey Costruction Corp. “By spring we hope to have something on the boards for the first hotel at Snowcreek,” he said.

Four or five hotels with 300-400 rooms are planned at the 350-acre resort located just south of Mammoth Mountain, as well as a golf course, clubhouse, condominiums, lodges, restaurants and a convention facility.

About 350 condominiums have been built at Snowcreek, as well as the $5-million Snowcreek Athletic Club.

Dempsey and architect O’Connor are partners in the Snowcreek Ski Area venture, which will include 10 chairlifts, five of which will be the recently introduced, fast-moving quad detachables. The U.S. Forest Service approved a feasibility study for the ski area last May.

Frampton said real estate sales in Mammoth Lakes for 1986 were 30% ahead of last year, while listings were down 15%. “Prices started stabilizing a year ago and there hasn’t been any increase,” he said. “There are a lot of good buys in town.”

One hundred residential units were built at Mammoth in 1986, according to William T. Taylor, assistant town planner. “This is up from the last two years, but still below the late ‘70s and early ‘80s,” he said.

The Mammoth Lakes real estate market is at its lowest level since 1975, according to Martin West, president of the Board of Realtors. “There are a lot of foreclosures on the market, which basically are holding prices down,” he said.

“We are selling two units today at the price we sold one unit during the 1979 (sales) peak.” West, a broker with Coldwell Banker Leisure Real Estate, said condominiums are currently selling in the $50,000 to $100,000 price range.

The average one-bedroom condominium sold for $40,000 to $50,000 in the early 1970s, West said. The price appreciated to $110,000 in 1980 and is back down to $50,000 today.

Lot Prices Down

“Low interest rates and low prices will be with us for another six months as the buyer’s market continues,” West said. “The price spread is considerable, but only lower-priced units are selling.”

Residential lots, once selling for as high as $70,000, are down to $40,000. “Residents are buying lots to insure themselves of a home site in the future,” he said. “Because of the new tax laws, more people are interested in buying a lot and building a home, as opposed to buying a condo.”

David Buckman, vice president of Mammoth Properties, confirmed reports of a strong buyer’s market. “We’re still experiencing a soft market brought on by numerous foreclosures, which began a year ago and reached a peak six to seven months ago,” Buckman said.

“People are buying them as fast as they come on the market. There are lots of attractive buys.”

Buckman said financing terms are the best anyone can remember. The interest is currently 10% on 30-year loans and even lower on variable mortgages, he said.

Bill Taylor, broker with Mammoth Sierra Properties, said the lack of snow this season has had a severe impact but he believes the market is “bouncing off the bottom” and prices have stabilized.

“The best thing I’ve seen in the last six months is that a lot of the (condominium) inventory is gone--for the first time in a few years,” he said.

Taylor described the commercial market as still overbuilt and depressed. Earthquakes, blamed for a drop in real estate sales in recent years, were not a major factor in 1986, he said.

On the subject of quakes, David Hill, spokesman for the U. S. Geological Survey, said there have been very few earth tremors in the Mammoth area for more than a year. “People need to be aware (of quakes) and should take precautions,” Hill said, “but wood structures are really quite safe.”

“Seismic activity in eastern California, typified by the earthquake in Chalfant Valley last July (6.4 on the Richter scale) and the following sequence of quakes, continues, as it has for thousands of years,” he said. But recent tremors have occurred north of Bishop, rather than in the Mammoth area.

Mammoth is situated within the 700,000-year-old caldera of a long-dormant volcano. In October, 1983 scientists of the Geological Survey found evidence that an underground chamber of molten rock was creeping toward the surface not far from town.

A volcano hazard alert followed and a secondary escape road was built. In 1984 the alert was canceled and the hazard downgraded by the geologists.

“Activity in the caldera has subsided, although earthquakes are not necessarily connected to the volcano,” Hill said. Volcano-related quakes involve vertical displacement, while recent quakes have been lateral, Hill said.

Mammoth business people and residents have become accustomed to the vagaries of Mother Nature. They take them in stride.

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