Westin Hotel-Condo Next Up at Mammoth

Ski behemoth Intrawest is about to break ground on a brand-new 230-unit condo-hotel at California's Mammoth Mountain, according to GlobeSt.com.

The property will be part of the Westin brand under a franchise agreement with New York-based Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. A $140-million endeavor, an Intrawest source tells GlobeSt.com, the project is scheduled to get under way this spring and be complete 24 months later.

If the report is correct, the Westin Monache will be "the first full-service luxury property in the region and the flagship property of the Village at Mammoth. The Village is the mixed-use core of Intrawest's Project Sierra, a 10-year, billion-dollar mountain resort covering 250 acres at the base of the Mammoth Mountain, one of the most visited ski areas in the U.S."

As GlobeSt.com notes, Last year at this time, Intrawest has just sold out the final release of homes in Grand Sierra Lodge, the third phase of the Village at Mammoth. Fifty-two one-, two- and three-bedroom resort condominiums were sold at prices ranging from $380,000 to more than $1.3 million. Grand Sierra Lodge is billed as a "combination of full-ownership vacation real estate with the features and amenities of a luxury resort" where owners can place their property into an established rental arrangement.

The difference between the Westin Monache and Grand Sierra Lodge, according to the GlobeSt.com report, is in the size of the rooms. With larger units, Grand Sierra Lodge is more of a condominium development being operated like a hotel while the Westin Monache will look and feel more like a traditional hotel.