A village with a view

$1.1b plan includes 182-acre development at base of Bretton Woods

BRETTON WOODS, N.H. - The remote beauty of the White Mountains prompted Leslie Bergum to build a home in this valley at the bottom of Mount Washington. Wildlife frequently roams her riverfront property, and despite neighboring condo developments, there are few lights at night to dim the star show.

But she may soon have a lot more company.

The owners of the Mount Washington Resort, which includes the Bretton Woods ski area and the famed hotel, have launched a $1.1 billion expansion plan that includes a 182-acre village at the base of the slopes. In addition to a new golf course and conference center and spa, the development includes several other subdivisions that would ultimately increase the resort's housing units to 1,400 from 300 and double visitors to more than 700,000 a year.

"We want to become the premier destination in the Northeast," said Pat Corso, the resort's president.

Corso works for Celebration Associates, the property developer founded by former Disney executives who helped build the town of Celebra tion, Fla., near Walt Disney World. In 2006 Celebration and CNL Income Properties bought the 1,900-acre Mount Washington Resort, located in the tiny town of Carroll.

Celebration operates several major resorts and developed communities, and the firm touts history, culture, and the environment as "essential elements" in its developments. Celebration's vision is to mimic the format of their successful Homestead resort in Hot Springs, Va., which also features a grand hotel adjoining expensive housing developments.

"Authenticity" is another word Corso likes to used to describe Celebration's handiwork. Among the first moves he made after Celebration took ownership in New Hampshire was to bring back the original color scheme of the interior of the hotel, using old photographs as a guide. The conference center and spa under construction are attached to the hotel and designed to blend with the main building. Guests will be able to walk off the 900-foot wrap-around veranda onto a rooftop garden over the addition and enjoy unmatched views of Mount Washington and the Presidential Range.

As for the new village, the company intends for it to evoke "a traditional New England village," he said. Initial renderings show narrow streets and clapboard buildings resembling Woodstock, Vt. Some of the new residences will be above the street-level businesses, others in hotel-style condo buildings. The development also includes a weather laboratory, an art museum, an orthopedic clinic, and an educational partnership with state universities.

Celebration wants a reprise of the resort's heyday of the early 20th century, when the Mount Washington Hotel provided grand accommodations for the society set. In 1944 it was the site of a famous international monetary conference at which the Allied Powers laid the groundwork for the post-World War II world's enduring financial institutions and conventions, including the International Monetary Fund.

The ski area was built in the 1970s, and in the 1980s, condo development bloomed briefly before the real estate meltdown a decade later. Today the real estate market is again slow, but that isn't dampening Celebration's plans.

Celebration is one of a number of property developers who have bought smaller ski resorts in New England, such as Burke Mountain in Vermont and Ragged Mountain in New Hampshire, with the goal of creating upscale residential communities around them.

At Mount Washington, owners of the new properties can buy a $35,000 club membership for priority use of the golf courses, ski area, and other amenities. Owners of the existing units will be able to enroll in the club at a 25 percent discount, according to one homeowner.

To many in the region, the development is a bright spot in a dismal economy of mill closures and declining population. The struggling mom and pop motels, restaurants, and convenience stores of Carroll's other settlement, Twin Mountain, are hoping to see financial benefits from the development.

"They are giving local businesses the first shot at leasing space in the village," said Jim Covey, owner of the Profile Deluxe Motel and president of the local chamber of commerce. He said the resort also promised not to create competing hotel or motel space. "This is good news for everyone."

Others have mixed feelings.

"Before they built the condos," said Lee Halquist, owner of the 24-room Four Seasons Motel five miles from the resort, "we got all the overflow from the ski area and conferences at the hotel. Now people rent condos instead."

On the other hand, Halquist thinks the village attractions of shopping, dining, and museums may end up bringing customers to his motel, although he is realistic about the timeline. "It's not going to happen for five or six years. Right now we're all hurting."

Despite this year's banner snowfall, Halquist and other business owners are still feeling the effects of three bad winters and marginal summer seasons.

Meanwhile, some neighbors and other residents are worried the development would be too much for the fragile ecology of the region and feel the town may have been too generous in granting Celebration development rights.

For example, Carroll has a 33-foot maximum for building heights, which may be too short for the three-story buildings shown in Celebration's renderings. The resort proposed a specially zoned district that would allow the town planning board to approve any proposed building height with consideration of "impact on scenic qualities." Carroll's Town Meeting approved the district last month.

Eric Bergum contends the special zoning is "a blank check for the developer. It gives the planning board the right to approve a 20-story building if they so desire." His particular concern is that the language in the new zoning is too vague and could be misapplied if the resort is sold to another developer. "We've had four owners in 14 years," he said.

Planning Board chairman John Birknes said the resort owners are "responsible developers" and asserted the planning board will see that the development is "tastefully done."

Meanwhile Leslie Bergum, a member of Carroll's Conservation Commission, and others are concerned about the development's effect on local waterways.

Now, "it's a plain, natural, special, beautiful kind of place," she said. But with development, "the landscape of the area will change."

The resort has already been forced to reduce the number of units planned for the Dartmouth Brook subdivision by more than a third because of wetland and wildlife issues. After working extensively with the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services to revise the plan, 199 units were approved.

Leslie Bergum is also worried about how the Ammonoosuc River, which will bisect the new village, and the abutting Crawford Brook will be affected by development. And the North Country Council, a regional planning commission, urged the town to conduct traffic studies and an analysis of the economic impact on local businesses and property taxes outside the resort.

The company still has to obtain permits for portions of its plan and said it expects the full build out to take 11 years.