(This story by Chris Mays was first published in the Brattleboro Reformer June 22.)
[W]ILMINGTON — At face value, eight townhomes aren’t that big of a deal.
But it’s the start of a new era for the Hermitage Club, after the company secured Act 250 approval for its master plan earlier this year.
“It’s thrilling,” said Brendan McGrail, director of communications for the Hermitage. “The real estate thing in our business is such a driver of our revenue, that to have it stalled out while we awaited the Act 250 was tough. You see the effects of that in our tax bills and what we’re trying to catch up with now.”
With plenty of people waiting to move into residences planned by the Hermitage’s private ski resort at Haystack Mountain, McGrail said, “It’s a matter of getting it done and getting people in.”
The project is the first of several planned to start after the company’s long and rocky road to getting state approval. The process had at times frustrated company and even town officials.
The District 2 Environmental Commission had asked for more information in orders before the Act 250 permit was approved on Feb. 16, 450 days after applying. And additional permits were sought right away.
“This is the beginning of Phase Two of our development,” Hermitage Club President Jim Barnes said in a press release. “The master plan approval was the keystone of our expansion, and now we’ll be building and selling homes and real estate as fast as we can file and receive permits.”
Altogether, the master plan calls for 550 “keys” over 10 years.
The term refers to any type of residence located by Haystack and built under the Hermitage name. Each project will need its own set of permits, said McGrail.
Construction is to begin in August on the first eight units at Grenoble Way, which is located just below the Hermitage Club Clubhouse and base lodge at Haystack. The “ski-in ski-out” condos are expected to be ready by the coming ski season.
Seven of the units are “already under contract,” McGrail said, meaning the payment process has begun.
“A lot of times when they do a build, you pay in ‘progress payments,’” he said.
Hermitage Club Vice President of Construction and Development Bob Rubin anticipates the project — along with two more “country estates” that are to be built at the company’s Stag’s Leap development once permits are approved — could create about 200 jobs this construction season.
“Not only do these units represent over $10 million in revenue for the Club, we’re getting so many people back to work as well,” Rubin said in the press release. “And this is just the beginning.”
About six homes have been built at Stag’s Leap, which is on the lower mountain near the hill used for beginners. Hotel Hermitage is another part of the master plan, which is expected to go up in the next few years.
These new projects will help drive the local economy, Barnes said.
“We strive wherever possible to hire locally, to contract locally as much as we can,” McGrail said. “At this point in the construction season, a lot of local contractors are already working on other projects.
But we do everything in our power to continue our community involvement by hiring local as much as possible.”