On Thursday, October 18, Rusty Gregory, CEO of Mammoth Mountain Ski Area in Mammoth Lakes California, joined the Coldwell Banker Mammoth office's weekly sales meeting to share his thoughts and expectations of growth and development.

Rusty stated that he is "...more optimistic now that I have been in the last four years."  There is a greater sense of cooperation with the Town of Mammoth.  The difficulty of getting projects approved is the cause for recent meetings between the Town and developers.  This has already led to reduced development impact fees (DIF) and the completion of the General Plan Update.  Mammoth is well-known among capital markets for being one of the worst areas in the country to develop because of the difficulty in getting projects approved.  This seems to be changing for the better.

A new concept in Mammoth is District Planning.  Rather than applying the exact same guidelines for all areas of town, District Planning incorporates the characteristics of each area of town with guidelines that are appropriate for the area.  This will knit the smaller areas of town together.

Redevelopment of Main Street is a very aggressive tactic in redesigning the main thoroughfare of Town.  This would include the narrowing of Main Street to 1 lane in each direction with a median and several turnouts.  This will eliminate frontage roads and provide businesses with street frontage property to expand and redevelop buildings.

Mammoth Mountain Ski Area put money into the project to build the local ice rink as a community investment.  The joint branding effort between Mammoth Mountain and the Town of Mammoth Lakes give the message “Come as you are…Do what you love”.

Gregory says that work continues on improving the guest experience including a joint venture with Patina Food Group, the largest caterer in Southern California, to provide food service of all levels at Mammoth Mountain.  They will use a combination of local workers and their current staff from Southern California.  Great service and great food is the goal over the next year.

Plans are underway for a 500 seat restaurant/lodge facility at the top of the Goldrush lift station.  That is probably about two years out.  And in the next four years, more of a focus will be put on group sales and events.

The two current major projects are Altis and Eagle Lodge.

The Eagle Lodge base facility project has little going on right now.  The deal to use the Ritz Carlton brand for the Sierra Star project and the Eagle base lodge was thrown off track due to the recent purchase of the hillside property by Cypress Equities.  Cypress already had a letter of intent from Ritz Carlton for the hillside property and Ritz will not offer their flag to two separate developers in the same area.  Alternatives being investigated are the Four Seasons and St. Regis as well as some other big brands.

Hotel “1” is now being considered for a different location rather than the parking lot area across Minaret from The Village.  They are still defining the brand platform, but they do not feel that The Village is the right setting for this brand.

Altis is back!  But under a different model.  There will be 4 very large duplex units (about 3000 sqft) in 2 buildings and they will be ski-in/ski-out at the same location just off the ski run along Eagle Express.

With much rumor about Barry Sternlict’s intentions for Mammoth going around, Gregory explained that there is about a 5-7 year life for Mammoth in Sternlict’s business.  So although there are no exit plans currently, Sternlict is not expected to be in Mammoth for the long haul.  Barry’s current focus is on partnerships in the area where the Olympics are to be held, Russia.

Looking further down the road, Rusty says that there is a lot going on.  The Main Lodge land trade for 22 acres in the Mono Basin would allow for the current Main Lodge to be torn down and the area redeveloped with 1000 rooms in three to five properties.  Estimated time is 2 years to complete the land trade and five years before the first project opens.

Another ‘hallucination’, as Rusty puts it, he has in mind for the future is to build a Hollywood Bowl type facility at Canyon Lodge with a removable stage and four-story parking structure.  This would be further out in time from the Main Lodge land trade.

The Ski Back Trail from Main Lodge to The Village is getting closer.  The public comment period is open and Rusty encourages all to submit a written comment in support of the ski back trail.  It is an easy ride from Chair 4 to The Village at the end of the day versus the long lines at Main Lodge to get on the shuttle at the end of the day.  This will free up transportation and traffic impacts from Main Lodge to The Village.

And last but not least, what is going on at June Mountain?  Rusty says the Village of June Lake has been more accepting of expanded commercial business and lodging after last season’s horrible economic impact on local business.  The community has approved 1000 beds for development at or near the ski resort which will allow for more available lodging.  Barring another bad snow season, June Mountain will open and operate as usual.