The nearly 400-room luxury Grand Hyatt hotel overlooking the Utah Military Installation Development Authority’s project area next to the Jordanelle Reservoir will probably ready for guests this fall, according to Extell Development.
Tuesday morning, Resort Development Vice President Kurt Krieg gave an update to MIDA’s board on the project, which will bring the Grand part of the Hyatt brand to Utah. The nearest Grand Hyatt hotel now is in Vail, Colorado.
“All the subcontractors have made great headway this winter on the Grand Hyatt Deer Valley,” he said. “You’ll really start to see it come to life, as substantial completion is slated for early September.”
He said Michael Lindenbaum, the president of Extell Hospitality Services, is around helping the hotel prepare for the resort’s soft opening, which he hopes will happen in time for Thanksgiving this year. The company has a goal for a more complete opening by Christmas.
“Hyatt has already hired the (general manager),” he continued. “Anthony Duggan … is the new GM for the Grand Hyatt Deer Valley, and they’ve hired the director of sales, and they’re starting to further the other fill out of the executive team, which is tremendous.”
According to his LinkedIn profile, Duggan has two decades of luxury hotel experience, starting as the front office manager of the InterContinental Dallas before moving up the ladder through different corporations to become the current area vice president and general manager of Ventana Big Sur.
Further preparations, Krieg said, have taken place in conjunction with MIDA staff members to keep the military up to speed “as that’s a major part of this project and moving forward at opening.”
Since the beginning of the hotel’s development, 100 of its nearly 400 rooms will be reserved with reduced rates for military members who otherwise would likely find it difficult to afford a vacation spot in an area with so many recreational opportunities.
On the less rate-reduced side of things, Krieg said Sotheby’s International Realty — the company that’s acted as the hotel’s broker — has contracted out 49 of the building’s 55 condos that “sit on top of the hotel itself.”
The primary focus, he added, remains opening in time for next ski season.
Krieg also talked about how Extell is beginning to shift its focus to 660 units of workforce housing.
“We are on track to provide a site plan to MIDA by July, which is part of the interlocal, and proceed forward on that,” he said.
He also referred to the board’s closed session immediately following the public portion of the meeting, which he said would be about Building D of the project area’s recently approved Pioche Hotel, which he said the development company “hopes is a public-private partnership to further workforce housing in the region.”