Chateau land under 1 ownership for first time
The Chateau project in South Lake Tahoe is beginning to look like the original designs.
By Kathryn Reed
For the first time in the project’s history, South Lake Tahoe’s “hole in the ground” is now under the control of one owner.
Tahoe Stateline Ventures, a subsidiary of Owens Realty Mortgage, has closed escrow on the nine parcels that encompass 3.4 acres at the site that it did not own. The company paid City National Bank $6 million in cash.
TSV is in the process of developing the retail along Highway 50. The construction fence is expected to come down by June, if not sooner. Stores will open in late summer or early fall, though tenants have yet to be named.
“It’s very exciting news that Mr. (Bill) Owens is continuing to invest significant resources into the community and is committed to this project and to see it to fruition one way or another,” South Lake Tahoe City Manager Nancy Kerry told Lake Tahoe News. “This is the perfect outcome – one owner who can now design the right project or attract the right capital investors.”
It was in June 2007 that construction started at the 11-plus acre site on what was to be the largest redevelopment project in the city’s history. At the time it was going to cost $410 million to build two hotels, a convention center, nightclub, retail and open spaces. The opening was to be two years later.
Instead, Lake Tahoe Development Company, run by Randy Lane of Zephyr Cove, went bankrupt. The more than 20 parcels were never consolidated into one map. Locals lost their life savings. And the city was left with an eyesore.
Last year construction started on the first phase. There will be 19,000-square-feet of retail, which does not include the restaurant-night club. (By comparison, Heavenly Village has about 120,000-square-feet of retail.) The restaurant will be the new McP’s, which was the original plan. The circular entrance is now visible over the fence at the corner of the highway and Stateline Avenue.
What comes next remains to be seen.
Attorney Lew Feldman, who represents TSV, was not available for comment.
“This acquisition provides ORM the flexibility to make minor project reconfigurations resulting in greater development opportunities, which should enhance the marketability of the project,” Owens said in a statement. What that really means is not known.
This is the best news the town has heard in years.
Mr. Owens is a calm ye very serious man. I think he will make this project work.
Good to hear the hole, or excuse me ,”The Chateau” is under the ownership of one entity. I hope Mr. Owens is able to complete this project and as city manager Nancy Kerry said, “see it to fruition one way or another”.
The one thing that bothers me is a quote from Mr. Owens, “This acquisition provides ORM the flexibility to make minor project reconfigurations resulting in greater development opportunities, which should enhance the marketability of the project”.
Depending on ones interpretation of that I can only speculate as to what he meant by that and what happens with this project. Marketability? Hhhmmmm…. OLS
I think a worthwhile addendum to this story is that subsequent to 2007 this Nation suffered the worst economic recession since the Great Depression of the 1930’s. The bank in the SF Bay Area that agreed to the project loan rescinded on that when the economy started tanking, Lake Tahoe Development Company did go bankrupt, and Mr. Lane lost the project and the associated investment. I would venture to guess that those occurrences were not a part of his original plan when he initiated that project, and while so many people like to think this was some kind of intentional screw job to SLT, it was actually another casualty of the recession, just like so many other “casualties” across the entire country.
I don’t know Mr. Lane and I’m not an advocate of him, but had the recession not occurred the outcome of this project would likely have been very different.
Congratulations to Tahoe Stateline Ventures on this accomplishment.
Best get on with the ‘chat-hole’ project ASAP…they are running out of empty storefronts on 50 for Asian Massage parl-oops, uh, er, um…’spa’s’…yeah that’s it, ‘SPA’s’.
Heavenly is Vails only mountain where they own no anchor hotel. They are in the real estate business, make no mistake. By combining everything into one APN Owens now has some leverage to either attract capital sufficient to build or market this project to someone who will. Either way, as the city manager has stated, it is the missing piece in real action at that location. I can’t imagine Vail is just snoozing on this one…..and would likely do a nice job.
This is great news for our city. I am hoping that they pursue the convention space as planned originally. The casinos no longer value convention business as evidenced by their extremely dated and long neglected facilities. We need to cultivate this.
On a side note, might I suggest that it would be beneficial if the listing agent / broker for these retail spaces would return phone calls to local leasing agents regarding the space there. Why have a giant sign if you have no intention of returning calls? Publicity? Something doesn’t smell right here.
Hard to believe it has been 7 years. Wonder what the skaters will do.
hmmm & Atomic, hmmm thanks for the morning chuckle!
“Massage parl-oops,uh,er,um…’spa’s’yeah that’s it,’SPA’S'”.LOL. It’s all about semantics my friend.
Atomic I think youv’e got it spot on with Vail possibly buying out Mr. Owens. Good call!
Enjoy the rain, OLS
The HOLE is the perfect location for an OUTDOOR EVENT CENTER which is the economic juggernaut this area so desperately needs…
Why pray for snow when you can book a show?!?!
Oh well… Maybe somebody with the right connections and resources will realize this before it’s too late…
Ryan, the HOLE is now a building.
If a convention center of concert venue would pencil out it would be built.
You think these peopel want to wait for the high-end condo market to come back?
Convention centers are generally owned by municipalities. No local municipality has an appetite to fund anything in the basin as they all have pension time bombs to deal with.
Say, where are all the “Meyers” people to decry the “massive development?”
Rock- let’s not get ahead of ourselves here. It’s still a HOLE and retail can still be at street level as part of a larger complex anchored by an OUTDOOR EVENT CENTER.
sunrise- pencil this: a parking garage and a local airport without purpose… a concert in the middle of town that brings a lot of revenue but takes place in inadequate facilities… And we need a retail center? Can you figure out the better solution?
WHY PRAY FOR SNOW WHEN YOU CAN BOOK A SHOW!?!?
Many agree that Snowglobe is a great event for this town with all the revenue it generates, but it is still a fairly small event. Just think what would happen if concerts and events like that had a real venue… and could occur year round…