By Doug Hare EBS STAFF
BIG SKY – The Wilson Hotel, Big Sky Town Center’s first branded hotel, will have a soft opening on May 30 allowing the first patrons to stay at the brand new Marriott Residence Inn. The hotel will employ close to 50 employees, excluding retail and future restaurant employees.
Lone Mountain Land Company, a development branch of
CrossHarbor Capital Partners, acted as the project developer for both the hotel
and the adjacent Plaza Lofts building, buying the land from the Simkins family
for projects that align with the Town Center vision, and abiding by
architectural guidelines designed to create continuity in the Town Center
aesthetic.
The Wilson is also slated to host a grand opening
celebration on June 21, in concert with the mixed-use Plaza Lofts building,
where residents have already moved in upstairs. The commercial tenants of the
Plaza Lofts, the Blue Buddha Sushi Lounge and Sky Boutique, plan to open in the
month June as well, with The Barrel Room, a winery by Corx in Bozeman, slated
for a midsummer opening.
“The soft opening will allow our team to ease into being
fully operational,” said Bayard Dominick, vice president of planning and
development for Lone Mountain Land Company. Dominick, who has been involved
with the hotel buildout project since 2014, expects for occupancy rates for the
129 units to ramp up and remain high throughout the summer months.
“We feel like this is a really momentous moment for the evolution
of Town Center—to have a signature hotel on the plaza in downtown open and
operating,” said Dominick. “We think this is going to change the dynamic of
visitation to Big Sky. With the Marriott brand, we expect to bring a lot of new
visitors to town and create more foot traffic of tourists and pedestrians as
well as capturing a bigger slice of Yellowstone Park visitors.”
The Town Center Plaza, which was completed this fall, will
be the new home of the summer farmers market as well as concerts and other
events. The restaurant spaces in both the Wilson and the Plaza Lofts building
will interface with the plaza with patio seating this summer.
Construction might be finishing up with these two projects,
but there are no signs of construction slowing down in Town Center. Across the
street directly south of The Wilson, another LMLC project is in the beginning
phases of buildout. The building will be
similar to the 47 Town Center Avenue building that houses Lotus Pad, with
apartments—three- and four-bedroom units—on the second and third floors and a
ground floor zoned for retail and restaurant space.
