Travel Getaways - May 15, 2009
Hidden Resort To Open At Lake Powell
SALT LAKE CITY -- An Amanresort -- part of a network of the most exotic getaways for the world's richest people -- will open by September near Lake Powell, said the developer, a perfectionist who worked on the project in fits and starts for years to achieve the desired look.
"We've been cautious," said Homi Vazifdar, managing director of Larkspur, Calif.-based Canyon Equity LLC.
Vazifdar changed architects, designs and project supervisors multiple times. He even had walls built and demolished because he didn't like their color and texture. He said he was in no hurry.
Canyon Equity built North America's only other Amanresort, at Jackson Hole, Wyo. Amanresorts, a Singapore-based hotel management company, runs 20 of the resorts around the world.
The Lake Powell "Amangiri" resort, tucked into a redrock amphitheater near Big Water, Utah, will charge $850 a night to $3,500 for the most opulent rooms, Vazifdar said.
It will have a generous 3-to-1 ratio of staff for a limited number of guests.
A small army of construction workers is building 34 rooms along two wings that hug the ground and blend into the landscape. The resort is anchored by a restaurant, lounge and spa. Hot tubs will adorn cliff faces.
Vazifdar's partners bought nearly 1,400 acres of land "out in the middle of nowhere" from the state, said Doug Buchi, assistant director of planning and development for the Utah State and Institutional Trust Lands Administration.
Vazifdar said the private setting, a 15-minute drive from Lake Powell, was by design. His resort isn't visible from any public road. That's the way "Aman-junkies" like their privacy, he said.
Regular guests include "media titans and some Hollywood types," said Vazifdar.
The project has been fodder for some gentle lampooning at recent board meetings of the trust-lands administration for its extravagance, but Buchi said officials hope the best for it.
It will raise the value of surrounding state trust lands, especially with the natural gas and power lines the developers brought to the area, he said.
Vazifdar's firm owns 1,900 acres of land in all. He said he plans to start building the first of 31 private villas this summer, for sale at prices of more than $8 million each.
It doesn't stop there: Vazifdar says he's also making plans to build a residential golf community, and he hopes to incorporate his own town, Canyon Point, with its own post office and zip code.
"We'll sink $1 billion into the whole development in maybe six years," he said. "We're in America's wonderland."
On the Net:
Amanresorts:
http://www.amangiri.com/
Amangiri:
http://www.villasatamangiri.com
abc4.com
Deseret News - May 15, 2009
Amanresort to open near Lake Powell
The developer of an Amanresort — part of a network of exotic getaways for the world's richest people — says it will open near Lake Powell in September.
The resort, tucked into a redrock amphitheater near Big Water, Kane County, will charge thousands of dollars a night for a room.
It will have a 3-to-1 ratio of staff for a limited number of guests.
The low-profile resort, which blends into the landscape, will have 34 rooms.
Developer Homi Vazifdar is a perfectionist who says he changed architects, designs and project supervisors multiple times. He even had walls built and demolished because he didn't like their color and texture.
Vazifdar is managing director Canyon Equity LLC, based in Larkspur, Calif. The firm's partners built North America's only other Amanresort, at Jackson Hole, Wyo.
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