Ritz-Carlton Highlands, Lake Tahoe Opens Today

The brand-new Ritz-Carlton Highlands, Lake Tahoe hotel opened this morning.  Situated mid-mountain in the Northstar-at-Tahoe ski resort. The resort features ski-in, ski-out access in winter with ski concierge services, a restaurant by Traci des Jardins a renowned San Francisco celebrity chef, a 17,000-square-foot spa and fitness center and preferred access to the Old Greenwood and Coyote Moon golf courses. This hotel in Lake Tahoe is the first new-build resort development in the area in decades.

This North Lake Tahoe hotel is perched slope-side and within a 15 minute drive of both Lake Tahoe and the historic town of Truckee. It is a year-round destination resort that includes 170 guest rooms, 23 private Ritz-Carlton Residences and 25 Ritz-Carlton Club fractional ownership units.

 For the local newspaper opening story click here.

For photos of the hotel click here.

For the Ritz-Carlton Highlands, Lake Tahoe website click here.

Truckee Community Center opens Saturday, December 6th

by Greyson Howard, Sierra Sun

TRUCKEE - Climbing walls, an elevated running track, basketball courts and exercise equipment - sounds like a modern gym.

Add classrooms, kitchens, fireplaces, dance studios and a picnic area, and you’ve got Truckee Donner Recreation and Park District’s new community center, opening Saturday.

“Everybody is invited to the grand opening - it will be a town party,” said Steve Randall, the district’s general manager. “We’ve been working on this a long time.

The district’s Board Chairman, Kevin Murphy, said the opening is just in time for the holidays.

“This is going to be the first gift of Christmas,” he said. “It’s going to be fantastic.”

The 40,000-square-foot center just north of Interstate 80 on Donner Pass Road will be a good place for a town party too, with the capacity to hold 1,000 people - about 700 more than anywhere else in town, Randall said.

“The feedback we’ve been getting from the community on a scale of one to 10 has been a 10 plus,” Murphy said. “I’ve never seen such overwhelming public response, and a lot of them haven’t even seen the building yet.”

The new building, which came in at about $18 million, or about $6 million under budget, will allow the district to expand its programs with the new classroom space and larger gym area, Randall said.

District residents can pay $20 a month to use the gym equipment and running track, or pay $3 per visit on a drop-in fee, he said, with the intent to cover staff and maintenance for those items.

And those activities and classes start right away, Randall said - the ribbon cutting is at 11 a.m. Saturday, and classes start at 11:30.

“People will be able to use the climbing wall, exercise equipment, there will be dance classes, and free food from the Lyon’s Club,” Randall said.

Murphy said the new center and expanded programs means great opportunities for children after school.

“Imagine your kids getting on the bus after school and having all these programs - climbing, soccer, volleyball basketball - in the past they just scattered - where did they have to go?” Murphy said.

Festivities will continue until 4 p.m.

Future plans
With the new community center, Randall said the district plans to turn the current building on Church Street into a performing arts center, with a 250-300 seat theater.

Of the $6 million that the community center came in under budget, the board has allocated $3 million to start in on planning and building for the performing arts center, Randall said.

“It will probably cost $6 to $8 million,” Randall said.

Then comes a potential aquatics center at the new community center, with swimming pools, a zero-entry beach-like pool, and maybe even water slides, he said, costing potentially $10 to $12 million.

“We didn’t have to go to the taxpayers for the community center, but we may have to put a bond measure to the voters for the aquatics center,” Randall said. “I’d like to see a retractable cover so it could be open in the summer but used year-round, but it comes down to cost.”

CHECK IT OUT
To learn more about the community center, go to www.tdrpd.com.