Developer Presents Idea for New ‘Boutique’ Resort in Girdwood

Monarch Hospitality Group is exploring development of a new resort to the right of Alyeska Hotel near the background of the tram.  (Photo by Soren Wuerth)

By Soren Wuerth

TNews Editor

A "global hospitality group" is eyeing land in Girdwood to build an estimated $150 million luxury hotel next to Alyeska Resort, a developer announced Monday at a Land Use Committee meeting.

The group's point person, Nathan Braun, 32, told local residents the "boutique" hotel would have 80 rooms with another 60 for its workers, and that an "alpine coaster"—a type of mountain rollercoaster—could supplement the new resort.

Though he has yet to speak with Pomeroy Lodging, Alyeska's owner, Braun said, "let me make it clear this is not a competition" with the Resort. 

Braun, who is from Brooklyn, said he is working with "Monarch Hospitality Group". The company's website has few details and, though Braun said he has a team of nine people, he would not disclose with whom the group is planning to partner, the names of investors or his company's net worth. He said his group has not developed any hotels and is based out of New York.

As its sole agent, Braun registered Monarch Hospitality Group with the State in late February.

The "Glacier Creek Resort" has a single-page website but is little more than an idea at this point, Braun said, and the area he is targeting, a bench just up-valley of the Alyeska Hotel, is unsurveyed. He said he's only been to Alaska once as a child.

When asked how he chose Girdwood for a hotel, Braun said he is "passionate about travel". "I'm good at geography," he said. "This is what I do."

"I don't know what grabbed me to look at it," he said. "I don't have the right answer. I just thought of it. Is that a good answer for you? 

A Long Reach

 Development in that location would have to overcome numerous obstacles. 

The land is in an avalanche runout known as "Zug's Slide", it is held by both the city's Heritage Land Bank and the State Department of Natural Resources, it is checkered with wetlands and there is no power or gas line connections, according to Girdwood Service Area Manager Kyle Kelley.

"So, you have the State to deal with and a long reach to get to utilities," Kelley said.

Access is also an issue. To get to the land, Monarch would have to build a road through "The Autobahn", a run below Alyeska's North Face that leads to its hotel, or it would have to carve a road through the popular Winner Creek trail. 

Braun said he agrees "it is a large challenge to develop anything here. And that's why we're here. We are here to see whether or not this is even possible."

Nevertheless, Braun said the location is the "only parcel (in Girdwood) where we can make this work" and that Alaska lodges are busy and profitable. He said his company manages more than 4,000 units in New York and has holdings around the world.

Local skepticism

Braun said he was told by Ryan Yelle, of the Heritage Land Bank, to expect skepticism from local residents who had "PTSD" from their experiences with other ventures in the valley.

Yelle said the project is not in HLB's work plan and the agency doesn't have an opinion on it.

"This is an idea that Nathan had brought forward, and it was at our insistence that he come before the Land Use Committee this evening to start that community dialogue," Yelle said. "So this is the first of perhaps many discussions that we'll have on this."

Yet the idea faces barriers that, for some residents, are non-starters.

"Either you're going to be cutting across trails unavoidably with your road (to the envisioned hotel) or you're going to have to work with Pomeroy and essentially cut off one of their ski runs," said Barb Crews, chair of the Trails Committee. "...I don't see where it fits. There's a lot of stuff crammed in that area."

 Braun reiterated later in the meeting he is open to a conversation should Pomeroy want to meet with him. A Pomeroy spokesperson did not respond in time for publication of this story.

He compared Girdwood to other ski towns with numerous resorts.

"If you look at similar areas, let's pick Jackson Hole, Wyoming or let's go to Utah or any large ski resort towns, there are 30 to 50 or even 100 resorts. Girdwood has one," he said.

But Braun won't be able to answer many questions because he "hasn't done the work necessary to do that," said Mike Edgington, co-chair of Girdwood's Board of Supervisors.

"I don't think we have any idea or history of what you've actually done, of what this group has done or what you have done. So I'm going to find it hard to see this as really a credible project until I've got a better understanding of the work that's been done in the past by your team," Edgington said.

For Brian Burnett, another GBOS member, the proposal reflects a governmental tone-deafness to the community's desires.

"So, I understand that (the Heritage Land Bank) may have been neutral on this project as they suggested this AI-generated presentation come before the Girdwood community this evening," Burnett said. 

"I have a question for HLB. Did they not hear the testimony of the community as we went through the public process of the Girdwood Trails Plan and the Girdwood Comprehensive Plan? Community testimony has been overwhelmingly in defense of the recreational value of this area and opposed to commercial residential development. Trail-based recreation and public open space is the best and highest use of this valley," he said.