Lakefront luxury condos ready to be built in S. Tahoe

By Kathryn Reed

Five multi-million dollar condominiums will replace a rundown building that looks like a relic from an architectural era that would be best not repeated.

Tahoe Lakeview LLC had the final subdivision map and condominium plan approved by the South Lake Tahoe City Council last week. TRPA permits are already in hand.

Five luxury condos are slated to occupy this site in South Tahoe. Photo/Kathryn Reed

Don Reid, who owns the property on Lakeview Avenue near El Dorado Beach, was in the audience May 18 in case the council had questions. With him was Gary Midkiff of Midkiff and Associates.

“I hope this summer,” Reid said of when construction will begin. “We still have some hurdles – political and financial.” Construction is expected to take 12 months.

None of the condos has been pre-sold. Reid expects them to range in price form $2 million to $2.5 million. He has bought a large billboard on Highway 50 in the American River canyon that travelers to South Tahoe pass.

The name of the project is Pavati Lakefront. Maybe sales would be going better if www.pavatilakefront.com actually went someplace.

The permitting process has been going for two years, according to Midkiff. One piece that isn’t complete is getting all the agencies to sign off on Reid being able to extend the pier and remove the boathouse.

Four buoys come with the site. Buoys and piers are a big deal at Lake Tahoe because a limited number are available. In essence, they are a commodity unto themselves.

Reid, who lives in Folsom, hired Midkiff because as a former Tahoe Regional Planning Agency employee, he is well versed in how the system works in the Lake Tahoe Basin. Reid has owned the parcel for three years.

Besides the city and TRPA, Midkiff said this project involves Lahontan Regional Water Control Board, California Fish & Game and California State Lands.

“It’s an opportunity to take a parcel that long ago had a house torn down that was not rebuilt and has a three-unit apartment, and hopefully start to improve that neighborhood,” Midkiff said.

The condos are expected to range in size from 1,800- to 2,500-square-feet. Each will have a custom floor plan. Rock and wood will be used extensively inside and out to fit in with the mountains more so than the structure that is there now.

“My dream is for it to be the nicest thing on the lake,” Reid said.

Each unit will have a 150-degree view of Lake Tahoe. The parcel sits right on the lake.