A New Era of Skiing Begins at Deer Valley East Village

By Tom Kelly Feb 4, 2025
Get to know the ins and outs of Deer Valley's East Village
A New Era of Skiing Begins at Deer Valley East Village

The lifts are spinning now at Deer Valley East Village! The first major destination ski resort to be built in America in over 40 years is taking shape with the opening of the Grand Hyatt Deer Valley. How did this pairing of a Manhattan skyscraper developer and one of America’s most renowned resorts come to be? Ski Utah’s Last Chair sat down with Extell Development Founder and President Gary Barnett and Deer Valley President and COO Todd Bennett in the brand-new Grand Hyatt Deer Valley to learn more.

Listen and subscribe through your favorite podcasting platform

 Deer Valley East Village Rendering COPYRIGHT.jpg

A rendering shows the build out of Deer Valley East Village, featuring hotels, condos and residential property. (@2025 Extell Development LLC, all rights reserved)

 

What lured the developer of the futuristic new Central Park Tower in Manhattan, the tallest primarily residential building in the world, out to Utah? And what does Deer Valley Resort have in store now that the Keetley Express and other lifts are shuttling skiers up to new runs like the Green Monster, stretching nearly five miles from Bald Mountain down to Deer Valley East Village?

 Deer Valley East Village Sunset.jpg

The Keetley Express and Grand Hyatt stand out in Deer Valley East Village as the sun rises over the Jordanelle Reservoir. (Photo: Extell Development)

 

A New York native, Barnett has a fascinating background, eventually finding his way into real estate development. While there are few physical similarities between developing a 98-story skyscraper in midtown Manhattan and building a new ski resort, Barnett talks about how the two do share common ground in piecing together pieces of land. And he’s been shuttling back and forth between New York and Park City for years assembling the project.

 IMG_3994.JPG

(Left to Right) Founder & President of Extell Gary Barnett and COO & President of Deer Valley Resort Todd Bennett

 

In his third season at Deer Valley Resort, Bennett is having fun putting together the jigsaw puzzle of ski runs, lifts, snowmaking, and infrastructure. Over the past two years, skiers have been salivating, watching the ski runs come to life on ridgeline spines and dropping into deep canyons just to the south of present-day Deer Valley along US 40 on the shores of the Jordanelle Reservoir. In a fascinating family twist, the trails were developed by Chris Cushing of the SE Group, son of Joe Cushing who put together the runs for Deer Valley’s original layout which opened in 1981.

 IMG_3987.JPG

The spectacular Grand Hyatt is now open in Deer Valley East Village.

 

Meanwhile, Barnett’s team has been building what will be a remarkable ski village, starting with the Grand Hyatt Deer Valley. It will be one of 10 planned hotels, including a flagship Four Seasons now under construction.

 

One of the keys to the development has been a partnership with the Military Installation Development Authority (MIDA) in Utah. Under the stewardship of Utah Senate President Stuart Adams, the state has taken what was a small military recreation lodge at Snowbasin 20+ years ago and turned it into a partnership with Extell to provide discounted lodging for military personnel. It’s an emotional piece for Barnett, knowing that not only is he developing a world-class resort, but he’s also giving back to America’s service men and women.

 

Bennett’s pride also runs deep as he weaves stories about skiing the runs out of East Village, which connects up nicely to Deer Valley’s Bald Mountain, and is skiable right from the existing mid-mountain Silver Lake Lodge.

 Keetley Lift with Grand Hyatt.jpg

The vast expanse of ski runs at Deer Valley East Village stands out under a brilliant Utah sunset. (Photo: Extell Development)

 

From the minute you sit on the spaceship-like seats of Keetley Express, or step into the lobby of the Grand Hyatt Deer Valley, you’ll be transformed. So let’s head into the Hyatt for this insightful look at the building of America’s first new destination ski resort since 1981, with Extell’s Gary Barnett and Deer Valley’s Todd Bennett. 

 

The spinning of Keetley Express, a heated six-pack bubble, in December, signaled the opening of Deer Valley’s Expanded Excellence. Within just a few seasons, Deer Valley will add 3,700 acres of skiing – more than doubling its current terrain – and offer a completely new entry portal to the resort. Here’s what you can find right now:

  • Grand Hyatt Deer Valley, now fully open

  • A new access portal featuring parking, rentals, ski storage, and more

  • Three new lifts – Keetley Express and beginner lifts Hoodoo Express and Aurora

  • 120 runs across the entire resort

  • Access to runs like the Green Monster, 4.85 miles of easy terrain from Bald Mountain to East Village

 

What’s to come? Watch for a new gondola next year from East Village to Park Peak, with an intermediate stop at Dutch Flat, plus new on-mountain lodges coming in the next few seasons.

 

The development of Deer Valley East Village is moving along quickly. The 371-room Grand Hyatt Deer Valley is now open, with construction of the flagship Four Seasons is underway. The final buildout will include 10 hotels, plus condominiums and residential lots.

 

So how do you get there?

With the opening of the Deer Valley East Village portal, you can now arrive from Salt Lake City International in around 45 minutes with not a single stop light! And there’s plenty of parking. Take the heated-seat Keetley Express, flip down the bubble, and enjoy the ride. Then drop down to Sultan Express to get to the top of Bald Mountain, Deer Valley’s longtime signature peak. From there, drop down Homeward Bound, cutting off to catch Green Monster at the base of Park Peak (watch for the gondola there next year). From there, it’s a nearly five-mile cruise back down to Keetley Express. Also, take a look at the blue Age of Reason option off Green Monster.

 

Transcript

|00:00:00| Tom Kelly: Welcome to Ski Utah's Last Chair podcast. This is Tom Kelly with you. And, as regular listeners know, I love to do remote podcasts. We were just in the Wasatch Squatters Brewery a few weeks ago. We've been down in the bottom of 12-foot snow pits. We've been up on the top of mountains and on chairlifts. And today, I have to say, we're in probably the most elegant surroundings I have ever recorded in here at the Grand Hyatt Deer Valley, an amazing resort. I'd like to welcome our guests here today. Extell President and Founder Gary Barnett. Todd Bennett, the CEO and the president of Deer Valley Resort, Gary and Todd, thanks. Thanks for joining me on Last Chair.

 

|00:00:40| Gary Barnett: Great to be here. Thanks.

 

|00:00:41| Tom Kelly: It's a gorgeous day. We're recording this in mid-January. It's going to run in a few weeks. But just outside today, Todd, I know when you run a ski area, you love days like this where it's snowing, it's beautiful. It's on the trees. Gorgeous day at Deer Valley.

 

|00:00:56| Todd Bennett: Yeah, it's been a great start to the season so far. We broke a record a few days ago with 106 runs open at Deer Valley, the most number of runs we've ever had at the resort since we opened in 1981, and the team continues to make snow and get more trails open. We'll go all the way to 120 trails this year.

 

|00:01:21| Tom Kelly: Well, it's a very competitive business. Gary, you're kind of going back and forth a lot. I know you've been out here twice this week now. Yeah. Did you have a good trip back out here? Yeah.

 

|00:01:31| Gary Barnett: Great. Everything worked out perfectly. Got out here last night, and the kids are out there skiing. Some of the grandkids. My wife's there, so they're going to have a great time. And of course, Todd's making sure everything works out perfectly.

 

|00:01:44| Tom Kelly: Gary, are you anticipating you'll get a little feedback from the kids out there in the slopes today?

 

|00:01:49| Gary Barnett: I know they're going to say they're having a great time. They skied Deer Valley before, and it's it's just great.

 

|00:01:54| Tom Kelly: Well, we're talking about what is truly one of the most amazing ski resort developments in 40 to 45 years. If you go back in time a little bit. Deer Valley opened in 1981, right? Todd. 

 

|00:02:00| Todd Bennett: That's right. 

 

|00:02:02| Tom Kelly: And Beaver Creek Resort opening a year earlier. And really, since then there hasn't been this kind of development. So we're going to explore the history of it today and how Extell and Deer Valley Resort came together in this partnership. As I said earlier, we're at the Grand Hyatt Deer Valley right now, just a few feet from the new Keetley Express lift. You had the grand opening. Actually, you opened in December with the Keetley Express, the grand opening just a short time ago. Things running smoothly?

 

|00:02:34| Todd Bennett: Yeah, things are going great. We're really proud of the team that we're doing all this a full year early. We've got two lifts on the way to three lifts open this year on the way to 20 more trails. We've blown a lot of snow over here. Uh. We were. The team wanted to get Keetley Express open before the new year, so they wanted to get it done in 2024, and they made that happen. So we soft opened back on December 31st and grand opening on January 9th.

 

|00:02:58| Tom Kelly: Well, I want to learn a little bit about each of you, and Gary will come to you in a second, but start with you, Todd. You've been on the podcast before. A couple of years ago. You're now in your third season at Deer Valley. Just a little bit of 411. If you could give us a little bit on your background and how you ended up coming to Deer Valley. 

 

|00:03:14| Todd Bennett: Yeah, sure. I grew up in a small town in upstate New York, Saranac Lake, home to a number of Olympians, and actually right next door to Lake Placid, New York. I've been a skier my whole life. Had a couple of different opportunities in and around the ski business after college, went to grad school. And it's really great to be back. It's my, like you said, my third season, two and a half years in. And, what an honor. What a great place to be.

 

|00:03:36| Tom Kelly: And you're a passionate, lifelong skier, right?

 

|00:03:39| Todd Bennett: That's right. Yeah, yeah. And it's been a good start. And the first year of. Tom, if you remember, two years ago, we had 606 inches of snow. I think we beat the record by 150 inches. That was a that was a fun and unique way to start back into the ski industry. The last couple of years also really, really strong. But it's been it's been good, you know. And it's and the thing that we've been most focused on is ensuring that the way that we develop, the way that we grow at Deer Valley, that we do it very consistent with the Deer Valley brand. You know, we often talk about Polly and Edgar Stern, the folks that founded Deer Valley. And, you know, you want to do things that would make them proud while still kind of pushing the envelope of the experience. But you want to do it in that same vein of why they started it, which is a focus on hospitality.

 

|00:04:21| Tom Kelly: Gary, before we talk about the project itself, a little bit of your background, you're from New York City, and I think about you a lot when I'm in New York City and I'm looking at the skyline and say, hey, that's another one of his amazing buildings, but give us a little bit of background on your business, how you got into it. And then we'll talk a little bit more about the project here at Deer Valley. Yeah.

 

|00:04:41| Gary Barnett: Well, I actually got into the real estate business over 30 years ago. I was actually living overseas in Europe at the time and started in early-90s. Everything had gone really sour in the States. The banks were being taken over by the government, and real estate was very depressed. And it was a good time to start because I didn't know anything about anything. But you could throw a dart basically anywhere in the country and make money. And so I started out in small towns, and then when things picked back up in the late 90s, it went into development quite heavily. And we've developed a bunch of buildings in New York City and Miami, Chicago, Boston and also we've owned two for seasons, one in Dallas and one in Vail. And the one in Vail, of course, had a lot of skiing activity to it. So that really got us more exposed to the ski business in the context of a, you know, high-quality hotel and ski business. I actually was in Utah, I was involved in the development of Tuhaye ranch. That development there, that Talisker, you know, went further with, we're partners in it to begin with over 20 years ago. And so that exposed me to Park City and, you know, as I said at that, grand opening on Thursday was. Yeah, I got a call to buy something here on this side of the mountain. And one thing led to another, and here we are, you know, building this magnificent, I think, unique resort.

 

|00:06:22| Tom Kelly: So let's go back and talk a little bit about the history of that. And I think that you acquired the land here around 2017 from a company who'd been holding it for some time. But, when you when you look at a project like this, that's essentially bare ground and a fair amount of it, does your mind start envisioning what could be.

 

|00:06:40| Gary Barnett: So the first purchase was actually about, I think, nine years ago. That was the 40 acres. And then, uh, serendipitously, you know, we this big piece of property that was next to it. The Dutch piece of property was 3,000 acres, was on the market. They'd been getting the runaround from various parties who wanted to buy it, and it was a big price on it. And luckily for me, nobody performed. And then when we got involved in it, they knew our reputation for, you know, for getting things done, for integrity. And we're ready to go down the road with us with a favorably structured deal. The price was high, but we didn't have to put that much money in day one. And so we were able to acquire it. One of the things that attracted me about it was that it already had a lease with Deer Valley. Deer Valley was skiing on some of the land that the Dutch owned with a lease, and part of that lease structure gave them the right to connect, to run a lift from this side. Actually, the Keetley Express lift was the lift that they had a right to contractually connect to the main part of Deer Valley on the other side of the mountain. And so when I heard that, I said, look, this potentially could be a very nice residential development.

 

|00:07:54| Gary Barnett: Hotel development potentially made sense. And there was some cash flow coming in from the lease from Deer Valley. It had been some difficult times and I thought that that would increase the rental income. There weren't that many years left on that lease. Actually, there were only about 27 years or 29 years or something like that. It wasn't that long. So I thought overall it was a good opportunity. Did not foresee what it would become. This was just like one more simple type of transaction. Let's buy this. We'll get some rental income. Income. Maybe it will lead to a nice development one day. Did not foresee, you know, what we were doing at that time. 

 

|00:12:01| Tom Kelly: Todd, I want to go to you. And you came in in the middle of this, three seasons ago. Alterra had already acquired Deer Valley. But, in your role in the last few years, you know, how has the vision of this come together? I mean, what is has Deer Valley Resort seen? What has Alterra seen as to the possibilities that this expanded excellence terrain could provide to skiers?

 

|00:12:20| Todd Bennett: Yeah, I think it's been a really great partnership, and it's been great to get to know Gary and the team quite a bit as we, you know, we want to deliver one great guest experience. And I think that's what we're committed to at Deer Valley. And I think that's you know the guests well what components are extell and what pieces are like at the end of the day, the guests are coming for vacation. They want an escape. They want a great experience. So, we work very closely with Gary and his team to make sure that we can deliver on that in terms of the vision. You know, I think what what it offered was some really unique terrain and different skiing for Deer Valley than we've had before. So, some of the upper terrain. Tom, I'm not sure if you had a chance to get out there last season, but there's some great steep runs. There's some really some things that you just can't see from US 40. You kind of got to get up higher on the mountain to check it out. So it gives us some more variety of terrain. The mix of terrain is pretty consistent with what we have today at Deer Valley. When the terms of the blacks, the blues and the greens. So we've got some great stuff for beginners, we've got great stuff for intermediates and then really fun, kind of longer Daly Chute type runs, just longer pitches that I think our expert skiers are going to love.

 

|00:13:24| Todd Bennett: So I think that's great. I think the access from US 40 is fantastic. So if you're coming from Heber or Midway or Salt Lake City, you can come right into the Deer Valley, East Village portal or the airport. Yeah, or from the airport, right in multiple airports. Now that you can kind of come in to that zone. So you can bypass Park City if you don't want to. And what we really like is you have choice if you want to come in to Park City, if you want to get into, you know, Old Town and some of that experience, you have that opportunity. And then what Gary's building here on the East side is just absolutely incredible. It's going to have world class hotels. You know, I'll leave it to you, Gary, but you've announced some new great brands coming in. And I think it just gives people more options. And I think that's what we need, especially with transportation as it is in Utah. Utah continues to grow, being one of the fastest growing states in the country. We want to give both our guests that are coming from afar, but the folks that also live in the area that want to move here, that want to be outside, just give them more options, both in terrain access, etc..

 

|00:14:22| Tom Kelly: Just to educate our listeners. If you're not familiar with where this is, it's on. I'll call it the backside of Deer Valley. It's on US 40. So just kind of around the bend from Park City along the Jordanelle Reservoir, which is a reservoir that was created and opened in 1993. You know, one of the points that you mentioned, Tod, Is in Gary, direct from the airport. No stoplights from the airport, and I don't know what does it. Maybe a 40 minute drive at most.

 

|00:14:49| Gary Barnett: Yeah. 35 to 40 minutes. Yep.

 

|00:14:50| Tom Kelly: Yeah. It's pretty pretty amazing the access that's here. Gary, I want to, you know, talk a little bit more about vision. And, you know, as I mentioned earlier, I really marvel at what you've done and others have done in changing the skyline of Manhattan. And I look up there and say, how do people visualize? How do designers and architects and developers visualize this in this process of developing this resort? Are there any things that you've learned from that business of building big, tall buildings that you apply into the resort development here?

 

|00:15:26| Gary Barnett: So I'll tell you, I think, the one thing that that kind of translated from New York City to here is the land assemblage. So because we didn't this was not this was over 20 transactions until we got everything that we needed and wanted and we remember we own it. Fee. There's no lease. A lot of the ski resorts are leased from Forest Service or others. We own all of it in fee. And, in order to to assemble that whole area, you know, 20  … over 20 transactions, you got to do it. You got to kind of do it quietly. You don't want to get held up. And so the experience that we have in how to do  that translated from Manhattan, where it's the same kind of thing. You got to put together a lot of different deals and try, and get it in a position where it makes sense and you got to move. You got to know when you know there's a deal there, take it. Don't negotiate too much sometimes. So that that translated, in terms of the vision, I think actually the, the vision that I had here in Deer Valley, probably more than in Manhattan, most of those are kind of one off deals where you, you kind of, you know, where you want to go with the assemblage or the program, but it's not on the same scale.

 

|00:16:38| Gary Barnett: This is the largest scale, multi-year development that we've ever done and envisioned. And I would say that from like I say, the first 40 acres didn't think of anything. But then from the 3,000 acres and certainly from the third transaction, which was with with Wells Fargo, we really did have a vision. And so the first the first part of the vision was kind of let's get the ability to do our own resort. And we could have done a separate resort that was larger than Deer Valley. At the end of the day. We could have done that. I don't know anything about skiing. I still have a hard time understanding like why this is really great skiing, and what isn't. And the, you know, the runs and how you how you model them and lay them out and design them. But the one thing that I've learned, because I've got a little bit of experience now, is, you know, if you have great people working with you and for you, you know, listen to them, pay attention to them, and then try and, you know, do what they tell you to know. Um, but to some extent do that, but also have an ability to guide them. And so, from that third transaction, we did have a clear vision.

 

|00:17:49| Gary Barnett: The first vision was let's develop this; let's assemble this into a potentially great standalone resort. And we were advised by, you know, Chris Cushing, who's a master designer. And I trusted him a lot when he said, look, this skiing is really good. It's not people don't know it, they're knocking it. But I'm telling you, you know, this is really good skiing. You could do a standalone resort. And then Chris from Vail, Chris Jarnot, as well. We hired him as a consultant. He was head of operations for Vail. So he had kind of a very unbiased opinion as to whether this he said the same thing. And so when I heard that, I said, you know, let's go, let's get that assemblage done, let's design it. But we always wanted to do a deal with Deer Valley. We always knew that the absolute best use of this is to merge the resorts and to build something truly great. We could have done a stand alone resort. It would have been very good. Deer Valley is a great resort, but putting the two together is like just, you know, the most beautiful outcome, right? Because you have something that everybody says is really special. We've more than doubled the terrain, as Todd said. We're adding, you know, very, very good and special terrain that maybe Deer Valley doesn't really have.

 

|00:19:07| Gary Barnett: Now we're adding super long runs that, you know, are great for people. And he didn't talk about the future expansion to South Peak, which has also magnificent additional skiing. So there's going to be more coming in the future years as as this develops. So from a skiing viewpoint, we knew this was the best thing. And then from a development viewpoint, because of the incredible access to the airport and how good it is, we thought that that was something really special and we could build a brand new village. And I think it's, you know, you're comparing it to Park, um, to, um, Beaver Creek and to the original Deer Valley. But I think this is really actually so much more than that because those were new, but they went slowly. They didn't really get, you know, a really brand new village the same way we're going to create this. And the reason we're able to do that is because we already have Deer Valley that exists. And so we can just kind of add to that in a big way with confidence that it's going to succeed. So there's so much that came together to help us succeed. And I would be remiss if I didn't mention MIDA and we could talk about that too, if you like.

 

|00:20:18| Tom Kelly: Yeah. And we're going to come back to the village and talk about Mito in a minute. But you had mentioned Chris Cushing from the SE Group that really developed the the trails. And Todd, I want to go to you on this. Ironically, it was Chris' father, Joe Cushing, who laid out all the runs at the original Deer Valley.

 

|00:20:33| Todd Bennett: Yeah, what a cool lineage that they have. And just the knowledge and the and the passion that they bring. And just knowing the right way. When the when the trail needs to turn, where the fall line should be, where those lift terminals should be. You know what a what a cool job. You know, as someone who's been a skier his whole life and always looking up at mountains and thinking, gosh, where would you put the trail on that mountain if you were going to make Whiteface Mountain in upstate New York a little bit bigger? So could you do that?

 

|00:21:01| Gary Barnett: Could you, could you do that, that, that kind of work and design the, the, the the trails and the layouts and the runs and exactly down to the last, like because Chris was Chris was telling me like, you know, it's all great to lay it out, but you need execution, you know, and that the guys that were doing the the earth moving and everything to get the golf course builders as well. So golf courses we know have to be also extremely fine. And he says he's just he went out there and skied and he says it's just so much fun to see that they actually execute it perfectly too. And he got what he What he wanted.

 

|00:21:32| Todd Bennett: Yeah, exactly. I think it could be a good apprentice to Chris. I don't think I could replace Chris.

 

|00:21:38| Tom Kelly: Todd, I got to think you're one of these kids. When you were a kid, that you kind of drew maps of ski runs or maybe golf courses when you were supposed to be paying attention in class, right?

 

|00:21:47| Todd Bennett: Yeah. If I wasn't drawn, I was certainly looking up on the hillsides and looking at those or looking at the slides that we have in upstate New York and thinking, could I ski that? And where would that go? So absolutely. Yeah for sure.

 

|00:21:59| Gary Barnett: Yeah. But he's a talented executive too. This is not just about being a ski bum who somehow lucked out.

 

|00:22:06| Tom Kelly: He plotted his course. Gary, earlier this month, we were all here at the Grand Hyatt Deer Valley for the dedication of the military partnership with MIDA, which is an amazing Utah story. That's a very big part of your development here. But not only is this a great place for the public skiing, but you're offering remarkable benefits to U.S. military personnel here.

 

|00:22:33| Gary Barnett: Yeah, and that's one of the things we're most proud about. And frankly, also one of the the the reasons we're able to even build this, this whole project in resort is that we are replacing a facility that that the military lost rest and recreation for the first Salt Lake City Olympics. And what we're doing in this hotel is we're giving more than 25 dedicated … more than 25% of the of the rooms to use for the military. And that's active military, retired military, some some family. And they have the ability to come here at a very, very reduced and subsidized rate for what is an absolutely beautiful hotel. I mean, it is a first-rate hotel with great conference facilities, beautiful rooms, beautiful design, and great food and beverage. So they're not kind of getting stuck into like, some. Okay. We owe it to the military. We're going to give them back a few keys, and they'll get something. They're really getting a dramatic improvement in what they had before and something that's top of the line. And we're very proud to be able to provide that to the military, because at the end of the day, these guys are working for all of us. They're making the United States of America safe. They're they're able to give us the ability to to kind of try and keep things within reason around the world and and do great things. And they sacrifice their home life. Sometimes all the travel, sometimes they sacrifice their life. So, you know, we're all very, very proud to support the US military. And it's one of the things we're happy that we're able to provide these great facilities for them.

 

|00:24:11| Tom Kelly: You know, I've been a resident here for many years. I've watched this as a news story for decades now from Snowbasin and them giving up that facility for the 2002 Olympics. But what really struck me, the story really came home at that grand opening. And I know you felt it too, Gary, that this is the is the real deal. These guys were really, really happy. It was emotional that day, wasn't it? Yeah.

 

|00:24:33| Gary Barnett: Yeah, yeah. You could see that they were really. They're very, very happy about it. They felt like there's recognition, you know, for the for the work that they do. So many people just don't like, you know, don't really appreciate what, what they do. The military, you know, it's like far off. There's no draft anymore. But these guys are volunteering and you know, a lot of the top people are top quality people. They could succeed in many, many other fields. And they're dedicating their lives and their careers to keeping America safe. So, you know, it's great, I think, for them to feel the appreciation. I think that's kind of what made it, you know, what made it feel a little emotional there?

 

|00:25:12| Tom Kelly: I'm with Gary Barnett and Todd Bennett. We're going to take a short break here on Last Chair. When we come back, we're going to talk about the skiing. We're going to talk about the village. We'll be right back on Chair. 

 

|00:25:30| Tom Kelly: And we're back on Last Chair coming to you today from the Grand Hyatt Deer Valley. Beautiful day outside just to get out there skiing, actually. We're going to talk. We're talking with Gary Barnett from Extell and Todd Bennett from Deer Valley Resort. Todd, let's first talk about the skiing. I've had the opportunity to ski the terrain the last couple of years a little bit. This year it's remarkable. And I think and I wanted to say one thing first, just to kind of give the basics out. The elevation profiles, the exposure of the runs. It's pretty comparable to what else you have at Deer Valley, right?

 

|00:26:09| Todd Bennett: Yeah. That's right. The vast majority of the terrain is facing north. Like what you want on a ski mountain in North America. We do have a little bit of east exposure and maybe a run or two southern exposure, but that's really comparable and and similar to what we have at Deer Valley or the original Deer Valley.

 

|00:26:26| Tom Kelly: One of the things that struck me, and this is last year before you had the Keightley Express and other lifts in. But one of the things that struck me was how integrated it was with your already existing lift infrastructure. So we were able to do quite a few runs last year before the lifts were put in just from the top of Bald Mountain and working our way around. So it really integrates well, doesn't it? It does.

 

|00:26:48| Todd Bennett: You know, and thanks for mentioning that. That was something the team … we had so much pride in. So we had enough snow last year on natural to get into the terrain. And we went off the top of Bald Mountain, and we were able to take tours out there, you know, in the first reaction is, well, well who who gets to go first? And you know, Polly and Edgar, they had the three-circle model: take care of your employees, take care of the guests, take care of the company. And everyone was kind of unanimous. Let's make sure we get the employees the first look. So we had over a thousand employees in the first three weeks into that terrain, getting them excited. You know, I had an opportunity to take some ski instructors out there one on one and to see, you know, a ski instructor that is 40 or 50 years old and see that glimmer of that 12-year-old in there. I was it was so cool because they were just looking at this place and couldn't believe we're going to get to check out all this new terrain. So really proud that we were able to do that. Staff and employees first. Then we went to Deer Valley season pass holders, and this year we'll be skiing from the top here probably in the next week or so. We got a little bit of snow to make to get into that terrain, but looking forward to opening up even more terrain here very shortly.

 

|00:27:52| Tom Kelly: So this year you have a portion of the terrain open. So, give us a rundown on what's open this year. And then we'll kind of look at the big expansion.

 

|00:28:00| Todd Bennett: Sure. Maybe in context …So we'll have three lifts and 20 trails this year. Next year, a total of ten lifts and 80 trails or 100 trails. Excuse me, 80 more trails. So it's going to be just a massive expansion. Tight now we're, … we've got Keetley up and running. We have Aurora; we have Hoodoo we'll have coming online shortly. So that will be the beginner areaat the bottom of the of the mountain. Again, the team, a full year ahead of schedule, was able to get snowmaking in place, um, where it wasn't supposed to come online until next year. So the bottom of the mountain of this, of these 20 trails, is fully covered in snow, making the upper will have snowmaking next year, but we don't have that this year, so we're waiting for a little bit more natural to get that open. But we've tracked packed it with the snow cats and we've got a really nice base. I was out there yesterday and I'm going to sneak out there again this after this podcast, Tom, just to make sure the snow conditions are all right.

 

|00:28:52| Tom Kelly: It's important that you do that and just let the rest of us know as quickly as you can when we can join you. When this is at build out, what will it do to increase the acreage of Deer Valley? And what will you have as a resort with lift, complement runs and so forth? In a year or …

 

|00:29:08| Todd Bennett: So, sure, we'll more than double the size of the resort when we're fully built out. Which really it just it's it's a great experience. We're going to get to, um, you know, Deer Valley has always been known for limited lift lines and not maybe not as dense as other skier density as other mountains. We even this year … we sold out. I mean, we've sold out eight days already this year. We put a focus on limited capacity. We put a focus on ski only. And this will continue to allow us to kind of deliver on the brand promise that we've been known for, which is a differentiated ski experience.

 

|00:29:42| Tom Kelly: By the way, this is a little …

 

|00:29:43| Gary Barnett: I'd like to say something about that. Because this is not like just an add on to Deer Valley, right? What they're doing is they've actually built a new Deer Valley, so to speak, with all of the facilities and amenities. Right? So on this side of the mountain, we're going to have a ski school. We're going to have a beautiful brand new lodge, food and beverage lodge. Um, they're going to have the building, a fantastic lodge up at the top of Park Peak, which is going to people from, you know, from, from Snow Park and from here can access it also. So, the parking accessibility here. The accessibility as a as a new portal. Right. All of it is getting created in scale and actually is going to help enhance the capacity of the whole resort. So they're doing it right. Right. It's not just we're going to put more people in, but we don't really have the facilities to expand that much. They're expanding the facilities, and they're more than expanding into that. You know, it's going to handle everything. So I think that's really and that's what we want to. Right. Because we're going to be bringing in, you know, top-quality hotels. We want them to have a great experience. So I think I think Deer Valley is is is doing it great. We were happy we partnered with them. And they're putting in, you know, hundreds of millions of dollars into this into this project. So it's going to be done first class.

 

|00:31:06| Todd Bennett: I think that's well said, Gary. And you mentioned Park Peak there for a second. We're going to have a gondola that goes from the East Village all the way up to Park Peak. It'll make a stop at Big Dutch along the way. We'll have a separate line that goes from Snow Park to Silver Lake up to Park Peak. So imagine a world where you could actually start your day at US 40. Even if you weren't skiing, you could meet your family up at Park Peak Lodge, have lunch up there, maybe even take that gondola from Park Peak Lodge down into Deer Valley, maybe pop into Old Town on Main Street and then work your way all the way. I'm going to be doing that.

 

|00:31:40| Gary Barnett: I'm going to be doing that.

 

|00:31:41| Tom Kelly: Yeah, yeah, it's really quite amazing. I want to … a couple more things I want to talk about on the skiing before we move on to talk a little bit more about Deer Valley, East Village, the Green Monster. I'm just hearing all these things, and I actually skied a portion of it last year. You're going to give me the stats on the run, but this is a run that's intermediate in nature, so anybody can do it. It's kind of in my mind, it's a little a little bit like the Vallée Blanche in Chamonix where you get this just amazing ski experience. So tell us about the Green Monster.

 

|00:32:12| Todd Bennett: Sure. Yeah. So the Green Monster is a green run, so it will be a beginner run. Right next to it is Age of Reason, which is a blue run. So you have these really long runs coming from the top of Bald Mountain that'll go all the way down to the East Village. And that's pretty unique. You know, we have over four miles of a run. And you think about those folks who maybe start out at Wide West or start out on the new hoodoo beginner area. Once they're ready, ski school or their family can take them to the top of the mountain, get these incredible vistas, enjoy a lunch at Park Peak Lodge, and then take these really fun, adventurous new runs all the way down to the bottom. And so that's going to work for a great group of people. Even today. You can start at Flagstaff Mountain. So, the top of Flagstaff where you and I did our last podcast, you can take that down Homeward Bound and take all the way down to McHenry this year into the East Village. That's almost four miles itself. So, you know, for the skiers that are just learning, that's going to be great experience if you want to get into some really different terrain. More of that Daly Chutes and Centennial Trees type terrain, you're going to be able to catch that off, um, uh, in next season as we get we get into even deeper. And then Gary mentioned South Peak. I can't wait to get out in South Peak. We're actually looking at running cat tours this season. Natural snow, depending maybe out towards some of those areas. And there is just spectacular. Black diamond skiing.

 

|00:33:32| Tom Kelly: Is South Peak next year or the year after?

 

|00:33:35| Todd Bennett: South Peak, we don't have a date on that yet. Next year will be in the Park Peak area, and some of that, that terrain, South Peak, I suspect, don't quote me, but I suspect we'll be able to get in there with some cat tours. The trick, of course, is just making sure avalanche mitigation and that we have, you know, we got to make sure we're focused on the resort operation first, the core resort operation, and we have the staff and the snow and the weather will expand out there, maybe with some cat tours.

 

|00:34:00| Tom Kelly: One more point before we go to Gary and talk about East Village. One of the things since you've come here, you've gotten a little bit ingrained in the mining history of this area and, uh, both here at Deer Valley Resort and over at Park City Mountain, there's just this amazing heritage of mining which was the was the lifeblood of our community for a century. The Keetley Express is a tribute to that. But you have captured that a little bit in your run naming and some of the things where you're looking to preserve that important heritage.

 

|00:34:27| Todd Bennett: Yeah. You know, it's actually a story I didn't know as a skier at Deer Valley, but only learned when I took the job, which is the almost every run at Deer Valley is has a mining reference, was a mining claim, was a mine situation. And so when I got here, I learned that the team was felt really strongly that we should continue that tradition as we expand the resort. We don't want anyone seeing this as two resorts. This is just one great Deer Valley that, as Gary mentioned, we're going to continue to grow and build and add the amenities. And so all of these are references to mining claims. But a couple of a couple runs that might be homage to Edgar's Alley, for example. That's that was named after Edgar, our founder. But that is it's great. And it's really fun to see that tradition. There's a gentleman on staff, Mike O'Malley, who's one of our mountain hosts. You know, Mike is just an incredible wealth of mining history and knowledge. And Gary, if you get a chance, it would be fun to introduce you to you to him because he he just really understands the texture of what this place was and was a huge asset to Steve Graff on my team, and Susie English, who took a point on naming all the runs.

 

|00:35:23| Tom Kelly: Yeah, it was actually that's almost a separate discussion on how those were all named. Gary, Deer Valley East Village, we have the Grand Hyatt Deer Valley Open now. Amazing hotel. But this is just the beginning, right?

 

|00:35:36| Gary Barnett: It is indeed. That's why I say that this is … it's unique, I think, in terms of what we're doing here in the history of … certainly in Western Hemisphere and the history of skiing, in the sense that we're we're really, we're kind of parachuting everything in all at once. All of the infrastructure has been put in already. All the roads, all of the utilities. It's all there. And now we're moving to do the vertical build. This hotel is up and I think is a great, great hotel. It's a Grand Hyatt. It's not five star. But it's close to it. And, you know, reasonable rates. It's a great convention-style hotels … will be great for having meetings here. And then we're going to be doing some of the best brands in the world. We've announced a deal with Four Seasons hotels, and they're going to be our flagship, right at the gondola and at the lifts … hotel, as well as having condos associated with it. So those are going to actually be going on sale in the next week or two. And so it's been a, it's been … and then we're going to be doing it probably another 5 or 6 hotels besides that, some will be five-star, some we're talking to some of the best brands in the world, and some will be more moderate so that it's affordable for, you know, for kind of for everybody really, that's in interest in the coming skiing. But it's all coming together at once. I think that the the most unusual thing about this resort is that we're not doing it bit by bit over, you know, 20 or 30 years, but we're actually trying to do it all at once over a period of 5 to 10 years.

 

|00:37:17| Gary Barnett: And so far, so good. We've made tremendous progress having the support of the state, the support of MIDA, allowing us to be able to bond, issue bonds, which is helping us enormously. Having the partnership with Deer Valley has been extremely helpful. So it's all coming together, and we're going to be building really a really beautiful valley. Deer Valley East Village. One thing I should mention is that we've also partnered with Reef, Jared Lucero, who is the head of it, and they've been a great partner. They've been doing the single-family estate lots. There's going to be about 150 very high-end estate homes being built. Those are all spoken for and sold. Townhomes and … as well as several hundred condos that are involved in building. So we've kind of brought them in as a co-developer on some of the … some of the other available development. We're focusing on the hotels the five-star, six-star, four-star, condos, and brand hotels that go along with it. And that's very exciting that we're able to do so much at once. It's going to ensure the success of Deer Valley. It's going to, you know, make it a very, very interesting place to come. And we're making a very attractive place to come kind of first, because of the accessibility to Salt Lake City, to the airports, you beat the traffic. Our goal is to make this the front door of Deer Valley, not the back door.

 

|00:38:47| Tom Kelly: Got that Todd?

 

|00:38:49| Todd Bennett: I would expect nothing less. Gary.

 

|00:38:51| Tom Kelly: So, Gary, is there any kind of a timeline on like, the Four Seasons or … 

 

|00:38:57| Gary Barnett: Absolutely … it's under construction. We have started the ski lodge and the facilities for Alterra have already been excavated. We're we're beginning to go vertical this spring we will be going. Well, actually, you'll be seeing concrete rising for that. We hope to turn it over to them for their fit-out in the next year and a half. So that's our first goal, is to get beautiful ski facilities available so that Deer Valley can kind of have do the job that they do best. Right. And then following right behind that, the Four Seasons hotel and condos will be getting built, probably ready for occupancy a year later. And we plan to continue on in sequence at the same time. Our partners at Reef will be doing that. So we hope to really put together a really beautiful finished village that people can come to that you know, they can enjoy. It will be, uh, it won't just be a work in progress. It will be completed or substantially completed enough to really enjoy. And we hope to pull that off, uh, over the next 3 to 5 years.

 

|00:40:04| Tom Kelly: One last question for both of you before we get into our closing section. You both come from different career backgrounds. Todd, you've been in the hospitality business for many years. You've been a passionate skier, and you've brought all of that to the fore here at Deer Valley. And Gary, you're an amazing real estate developer with properties all over the country in the world. But I think the one thing that I'm hearing that brings the two of you together is the concept of excellence. And, Gary, I'll start with you. I mean, what does excellence mean to you?

 

|00:40:33| Gary Barnett: Well, our name has excellence in it, right? So Extell stands for excellence and intelligence. And that's what we try and bring to to every project we do. Like even this Grand Hyatt. It's a Grand Hyatt, but it's absolutely at the top of the range. I don't know that there's another one that's better than this. It's the top of the range for mountain hotels. So everything we do, we try and do at the top of the, of that range, um, and you know, and really do have a commitment to excellence to doing, you know, high-quality projects that deliver a great experience for people, for our, our guests, our buyers, and we're very happy to be able to team up with another company that's known for excellence, which is, of course, Deer Valley. So that's something we're committed to, and we're happy to partner with Deer Valley on that.

 

|00:41:18| Tom Kelly: Todd, when we did the press announcement on this year and a half or so ago, you titled it Expanded Excellence. What does excellence mean to you here at Deer Valley Resort?

 

|00:41:27| Todd Bennett: You know, we talk about the Deer Valley Difference, and a big component of that is attention to detail. And I think that's a that's a hallmark of what we do. It's obviously something really that Gary and his team do. Great. But you know, just … it's the little things, right? It's the little things. It's paying attention. It's the details. An example of this. As you ride up Carpenter Express, you'll see that Solid Muldoon is signed as you go up the lift. Very few ski areas actually signed and put signs to let you know when you're riding the lift, what the run is to your right, and if you're first time to the resort, you wouldn't know that. And so that's that's like just little details like that. When we did the sticky wicket, the sticky wicket was intended to be a be a throwback ski bar. And so we, you know, we went to the folks that know skiing ski history. Wayne Wong worked with Mike Rogie from the Mountain Gazette and just got the the right texture of that place. And the best compliment we received on the opening day of that was, it looks like it's always been here. And it was that just high-level attention to detail. And so that's going to be different than shoot 11, which is a high-end champagne yurt that we opened at Empire Lodge this year. Totally different than anything else we've done, but making sure we have the attention to detail and the food, the service, the production, the facility.

 

|00:42:37| Tom Kelly: Well, it's really … and I spent a lot of time here in the Grand Hyatt over the last month, and it really is an amazing property. 

 

|00:42:45| Tom Kelly: We're going to close it out now with a segment we call Fresh Tracks. And just a few closing questions for you. Maybe bring back some memories or give some little insider tips to some of our listeners. Todd, you're in your third season right now, and you think back over the past few years, is there like one moment that stands out to you where you said to yourself, wow, I'm really happy I landed here at Deer Valley. I'm proud to be a part of this team.

 

|00:43:07| Todd Bennett: You know, I do have. I do have a chance to get out on powder days before we open to the public. And there was one day it was a bluebird powder day, and I stopped in the middle of the run. And sometimes you hoot, and you're excited about a ski run. I was laughing out loud to myself because I was in a ski marketing video. It was just bluebird. There was a light snow that was just kind of in the air, and it was just it was untouched powder and it was just a really special moment. I'm very, very grateful that the opportunity at Deer Valley for myself, but also for my family to live here in Park City.

 

|00:43:41| Tom Kelly: Gary, you've worked on a lot of projects over the years. When you think back, is there like a really big positive memory from one of your past projects that sticks with you?

 

|00:43:50| Gary Barnett: Well, my best memories are when my condos sell out.

 

|00:43:57| Tom Kelly: And hopefully that happens a lot.

 

|00:44:02| Gary Barnett:  Hopefully, yes. So far, so good. Here, I have to say, all the condos at the Grand Hyatt have sold out very rapidly. We're selling very well at Pioche and we're expecting to do extremely well. We have like a thousand people on the waiting list for four seasons.

 

|00:44:15| Tom Kelly: Gary, you've made a … 

 

|00:44:16| Gary Barnett: That’s a plug, but if you didn't notice, okay.

 

|00:44:17| Tom Kelly: I got we you made a lot of trips out here since, uh, over the last 7 or 8 years. What's one thing that's really stood out to you about the Park City community?

 

|00:44:29| Gary Barnett: I would tell you,  … when I go back to New York, and I say this all the time, it's like in New York, you know, development is like, oh, development. They're going to make money. They, they're, they're building it should all go to affordable housing. And there's, there's, there's a lot of cynicism towards developing and builders. And it's kind of crazy because how do you build a city without builders and development, and it's got to work. So, but that's the way it is. And I say that the big difference here is that when we come out here, people have an open mind. You know, they're looking at it without a negative look at it. People are okay with other people doing well. They want things to be built. They want to … they appreciate the opportunity and the enhancement and the amenities that they're going to be getting. That doesn't mean that they don't have, you know, different viewpoints sometimes. But I think what's been really eye-opening about the community here. And we've had every single vote that we had from the local Wasatch County Council on things that we're doing were unanimous … people with an open mind. They listened at the state level. They listen, they listen. They believe. They gave us the benefit of the doubt. And because of that, we've been able to build something truly great to date, and God willing, is going to continue. So that's been really a great experience.

 

|00:45:51| Tom Kelly: Kind of. On that note, maybe a shout-out to Stuart Adams, the president of the Senate in Utah.

 

|00:45:55| Gary Barnett: He's been amazing. And, you know, I have to say he's been amazing. And he's a he's a good friend now. And I really appreciate everything he's done. I will say that there was not one time that he put the state of Utah at risk. They have never actually risked a dollar on it. But what he has done is he's put his personal credibility behind that. His belief in what we are trying to do, and me personally, I think, has been has been tremendously important in getting stuff done. And, you know, that's been a great help for me. I personally appreciated … he's been a great supporter for the whole project getting done. Of course, he's done great work for the state of Utah. I mean, I think everybody in State of Utah owes him, owes them a big debt because, you know, you put your credibility on the line, you put your reputation on the line, even if it's not going to cost the state anything. But it's, you know, everybody wants to be associated with success and not with failure. So he had to believe in it. And I give him great credit for having the, you know, the vision and and the guts to go ahead and say, you know, we're going to support this. We think this could be great for the state of Utah and for the local community. And I think he's been right so far. And God willing, he'll continue.

 

|00:47:16| Tom Kelly: Todd will take it back to skiing. Now, for all those skiers who are listening to the Last Chair podcast and they're going to be making their way to Deer Valley Resort this winter, any insider tips for what they could maybe do off of Keetley Express? Or maybe some hidden secret?

 

|00:47:31| Todd Bennett: Yeah, I think the best part, and having experienced this with my family, is the new lifts. My kids love they … we have the six-pack heated bubble chair, which is very unique for Deer Valley. And there's not a lot of those out there in North America. My kids absolutely love it. Last Sunday, we made eight laps on Keetley and that was just coming down. McHenry, which is maybe not a secret, but it's not getting … it's not really heavily utilized yet. So the nice thing is you can go spend some time with your family. You're not in … you're kind of away on the side of the mountain. And I would highly recommend coming and checking it out. The other piece, I'd say, is that maybe folks that don't know if you like, we mentioned at the top, which is if you live in Heber or Midway or some of these places, come try parking out at parking at the East Village. We have over 500 parking spaces this year. We'll have 1200 next year. We've got a shuttle. Very easy, very convenient. No stoplights coming from the airport. Come park here in the East Village and check it out. Maybe something a little different to try than coming into Snow Park.

 

|00:48:30| Tom Kelly: You had mentioned McHenry's, and for those who might not have the trail map in their mind, where does McHenry's emanate from?

 

|00:48:35| Todd Bennett: Yeah, go from the Silver Lake Lodge when you're standing on the ski beach, as we call it up there, you're looking up at the mountain. Just make a left towards Wasatch Lift, and then you'll go past Wasatch, and then you'll duck into the woods down the McHenry Canyon.

 

|00:48:47| Tom Kelly: Us regular skiers have been going down that way for years, and now we get to go past the base of the lift and see where it leads us. Last question, Gary. When folks come out here to the magnificent Grand Hyatt Deer Valley this winter, what's one thing that you really want to suggest they take a look at?

 

|00:49:05| Gary Barnett: Really. We've got a great chef here and the restaurants, and the hidden ace, and the food and beverage opportunities are really, really good. And I think it's worth a special trip just to come here, even without skiing. But I think that's really something, you know, really nice. And then the quality of the hotel is just it's just a beautiful hotel. You wouldn't expect to see that for, you know, for kind of a four-star. And so it's I think it's, I think it's really … it's going to be a lot of fun here. And, as everything you know gets bigger, people learn about it. It's going to be very exciting.

 

|00:49:40| Tom Kelly: Check out the restaurant and bar at Remington Hall. Right?

 

|00:49:43| Gary Bartnett: There you go.

 

|00:49:44| Tom Kelly: Gary Barnett. Todd Bennett, thank you guys for taking time today to talk to all of our listeners on Last Chair.

 

|00:49:50| Gary Barnett: Thank you so much. Great. Great to see you.

 

|00:49:52| Todd Bennett: Thanks.