By Miki Mullor

The Planning Commission for the Town of Hideout gave an informal nod to the Bloom project, proposed in the area known as Salzman property.

The 114 acres area between SR 248 and the Golden Eagle subdivision is proposed to become a resort-like development of Town-homes, luxury casitas, a boutique hotel, a few retail shops and a community amphitheater. In total, Bloom, the development company behind the proposal, is asking the Town to up-zone the area to allow a total of 255 residential units and 30,000 – 35,000 sq ft of commercial space.

Up-zone from 100 single family homes to 255 units mixed housing

The Salzman property, marked in red in the picture below, is situated between Golden Eagle and SR 248. It is currently zoned to 85-100 residential units, each on a minimum 1 acre lot, per the Town’s planner. The current “Mountain” zoning allows single family home development on lots that are at least 1 acre in size. The Planner’s estimate takes into account land that must be set aside for roads, reducing the total area available for development.

Commercial, hotel and nightly rentals

Bloom, the development company behind the project, headed by local real estate developers Ryan Sapp and Jenni Hogan, is proposing to up-zone the area to accommodate the following mix of types of development:

• Neighborhood Commercial: 30,000 – 35,000 SF
• Multi-family: 8 units
• Boutique Hotel: 60 units (120 keys w/lockout units)
• Casitas: 50 units
• Townhomes: 96 units
• Single-Family Lots: 41 lots

“The point of this development is to have a resort community vs a residential community plan”, said Hogan. Bloom’s marketing brochure describes the project as “a holistic focused boutique resort community on one of the most beautiful landscape acreage in the world… this community will focus on a development that works with the land with a goal to refresh all that come to utilize the properties on site.”

The up-zone map that has been submitted to the Planning Commission focuses the development in the eastern part of the parcel: (click to enlarge)

During a call with several landowners from Golden Eagle, Sapp shared his vision for the 50 luxury casitas, which would be a place to recharge and reconnect with nature. Sapp told his audience the casitas will be luxury nightly rental units, not intended for airbnb rental. Sapp put a $1,000 per night price estimate and added Bloom will likely maintain ownership of the Casitas.

The following are examples of what the casitas might look like. These images, which inspired Sapp, were taken from Bloom’s marketing brochure:

LOI signed with a hotel partner

The development proposal includes a 60 room bouquet hotel, to be operated by a third party. Sapp told the Planning Commission Bloom as signed a letter of intent (LOI) with a highly reputable hotel operator. While an LOI is not a binding agreement, it commonly a first step towards signing an agreement.

During the call with landowners from Golden Eagle, the developers highlighted the placement of the different buildings within Bloom in harmony with the hilly landscape to minimize their impact on the views of Golden Eagle homes.

Below are inspiration images Bloom uses in its marketing brochure to visualize the vision of the boutique hotel:

Hogan told the Hideout Comment over email that the Town homes and hotel will be located close to the commercial space in order to attract the “perfect commercial partners” who will thrive off luxury clientele. “There are several ways to control the townhouse short term rentals and could include requiring them to utilize the development property management team” – said Hogan in response to a question over the nightly rentals.

Next – legislative approvals

Currently, the Town’s code prohibits nightly rentals within the Town boundaries. However, the Town could establish an exemption “overlay” over the Bloom development or parts of it.

This is the second time Bloom concept is presented to the Planning Commission. In response to feedback voiced in the first presentation, Bloom increased the commercial space and decreased the number of casitas and townhomes. The current proposal earned an informal nod from the commissioners to move forward.

Next, Bloom’s formal application for an up-zone will be subject to formal public hearings and votes by the Planning Commission and the Town’s council.