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Downhill Lodge Replacement

The Tahoe Donner Downhill Ski Resort is widely known and awarded as “the Best Place to Begin,” much in part to extensive learning programs, a concentration of beginner-friendly terrain and long-standing commitments to safety that has Tahoe Donner Downhill Ski Area rated as one of the safest ski areas in the region according to Ski California.

Originally built in 1971 to be a real estate sales office for the Dart Corporation, the ski lodge is now littered with issues that have caused it to be studied for remodel or replacement. In December 2019 after extensive review, the board of directors voted to replace, not remodel, the facility due to the challenges associated with its unique snowflake design and extensive building requirements that would be needed to comply with current ADA and California Building code regulations making a remodel cost-prohibitive.

Throughout the history of this replacement project, which spans many years, various member-led committees and task forces have helped lead the work done to date. Staff and the board have contracted with several third-party experts to help us understand issues related to ADA standards, best ski industry practices, community engagement and more. You can see their reports and findings in the documents linked below.

As the membership, committees, staff and board work together to provide necessary feedback on our future ski lodge, the management team looks forward to hearing everyone’s input.

JULY 2021 OPEN HOUSES + MONTHLY MEMBER MEETUPS
Starting in July, BSA, our architect partner and a leading ski lodge designer, will be hosting two OPEN HOUSES at the current ski lodge on Thursday, July 22 and Saturday, July 24, both from 4-6PM. Members will have the opportunity to:

  • Tour the space
  • View design renderings
  • Ask questions
  • Provide feedback on project-related aspects such as building design, flow and functionality

Please park at Lot #1. Shuttles will be provided

An additional virtual Zoom Open House will be held on Monday, August 2 from 5-6PM for those unable to attend one of the live options.

A regular online SKI LODGE MONTHLY MEMBER MEETUP will take place via Zoom on the second Tuesday of each month starting July 13. At the meetings, members can:

  • Ask questions to the director of capital projects, director of finance and project task force chair
  • Learn more about the project
  • Provide feedback

The next meeting will take place on Tuesday, August 10 at 12PM.

LODGE AT DOWNHILL SKI PROJECT TIMELINE
Over the past several years, the project has worked its way through the Capital Projects process. This includes multiple independent studies to determine the facility needs and optimal functionality of the space. Some key milestones are shown below:

2021

  • Close Pros Consultants member survey
  • Share survey findings at the January 22 board meeting
  • PROS Consulting develop proforma based on survey findings
  • Select Bull Stockwell Allen (BSA) out of San Francisco, CA as the design team, who are moving forward with the conceptual design
  • April 29 special board meeting to discuss pro forma and conceptual design with the membership – watch meeting recording here
  • BSA and Pros Consulting present at May 28 board meeting to continue plan and design discussion with the membership. Board approves moving to 30% design phase – watch meeting recording here
  • Pros Consulting submits draft business plan for review
  • Two new feedback opportunities to begin in July: BSA to host Open Houses and staff to host online Ski Lodge Monthly Member Meetups

2020

  • DHS Lodge Task Force launched (spawned out of GPC DH Ski Subcommittee
  • Spring/summer Ward Young Architects engaged to perform programming analysis
  • Formally adopt Downhill Ski Lodge Task Force Charter (Task Force) by board; key task force achievements:
    • Develop starting point for comfortable carrying capacity for lodge at 1,000 skiers
    • Develop sizing criteria for board workshop
  • September 2020 open Board Workshop with Ward Young to discuss analysis and next steps
  • Board directs staff on a lodge sized around 22,00 to 26,000 square feet
    • The design team, based on crucial member outreach and previous studies, will develop a conceptual plan that meets the needs of our membership; this phase will include the potential cost
  • Hire PROS Consulting to complete thorough outreach program, data gathering and consolidation, business plan development and eventual lodge design support
  • Host member outreach effort to gather member data and feedback
  • Release member survey based on data gathered from focus groups
  • Send Architecture and Engineering request for qualifications (RFQ) to potential design teams

2019

  • Gather current user statistics and complete lodge needs analysis by staff
  • March – Final Draft amenity master plan prepared by DH subcommittee.
  • Perform ski resort benchmarking analysis by the subcommittee
  • December: Board of directors approves replacement of the ski area lodge over a remodel

2018

 2017

FEATURED DOCUMENTS

TASK FORCE 2021 PROJECT WORK
This portion of the Lodge Replacement webpage is dedicated to documents generated and referred to in 2021 by the Lodge Task Force, which was launched in January of 2020.

  • Task Force Update 1-22-21: The task force is working with PROS Consulting, staff, management and BSA for conceptual design work.

HOW TO PROVIDE FEEDBACK

You may provide feedback via our online form. Member feedback is an important component in the process of rebuilding the ski lodge, and we hope all interested members participate.