Lydig Construction Inc., of Spokane, has begun work on a $50 million infrastructure project that will serve new housing developments planned at Schweitzer Mountain Resort, near Sandpoint, says the real estate broker whos marketing the developments.


The infrastructure work will include constructing heated roads in a planned residential development to be called Trappers Creek. Ridge Crest Trail, a road that will serve that development, will be built with an underpass that will allow skiers and pedestrians from Trappers Creek and other developments to reach Schweitzers ski slopes and shops without having to cross a roadway, says the broker, Tom Fortune, of Schweitzer Land & Timber Co. The company is the brokerage arm of Schweitzer Mountain Real Estate LLC, an affiliate of Schweitzer Mountain Resort.


The infrastructure work also will include installation of water, sewer, power, and phone lines, and natural gas distribution lines will be stubbed at each lot, he says.


The infrastructure project will serve much more than Trappers Creek, Fortune says. Other residential developments, which eventually would add more than 4,000 housing units to Schweitzers 7,000-acre private holding, are planned on the mountain, where there are fewer than 1,000 housing units currently, he says.


After Trappers Creek gets under way, the next development probably will be the Greyhawk project, which is planned as a 41-lot single-family residential development on lots ranging from 1 to 4 acres that will be priced starting at more than $1 million per lot, Fortune says.


The sales process for those will probably start in 2008, he says.


Schweitzer also is seeking developers for projects at six sites in its village area that each could include 40 to 60 condominium units, he says.


Fortune says the infrastructure work for Trappers Creek will be completed by fall, and lots in the projects first phase will be ready next spring.


Trappers Creek is to include 127 lots targeted primarily for high-end multi-family housing. Schweitzer began marketing the 35 lots in the first phase in June. Of those lots, 29 have been approved for duplexes, five for triplexes, and one for a fourplex, although single-family homes could be allowed as well. Prices for the lots will start at $600,000 each.


The first phase will cover 13 acres, and lots there will range in size up to a quarter-acre. Fortune says he anticipates that the dwelling units in the multi-unit structures will range in size from 1,900 square feet of floor space to 2,500 square feet, although not all of the potential buyers who are looking at the lots are planning multi-unit structures


Some buyers are reserving lots for single-family homes, he says, adding that such homes in the project could range in size up to 5,000 square feet of floor space.


Roads and driveways inside the development will be heated in the winter through systems of water-filled tubes under the pavement that will be connected to boilers to warm the roadways and minimize the need for snow removal, he says.


The Trappers Creek lots are near the resorts alpine pedestrian village and are just uphill from the Selkirk Lodge hotel. Residents will be able to ski into and out of Trappers Creek. While most of the dwellings at Trappers Creek would be second, or vacation, homes, Fortune says a growing number of full-time residents are being attracted to the resort.


Buyers of the lots will select their own builders, although the designs of their structures will have to conform to standards in a master plan created by Design Workshop, of Aspen, Colo., Fortune says.


The second phase of Trappers Creek, which would include 92 similar lots, is in the initial planning stages, Fortune says.


Schweitzer also is investing $10 million to upgrade its ski operations. The upgrades include two new chairlifts that will replace Chair One and will enable the resort to move 12,807 skiers an hour uphill, up 28 percent from last seasons capacity. The resort also is in the middle of a two-year $10 million relocation and expansion of its sewer system.


In other recent projects, Schweitzer built the 50-unit, 75,000-square-foot White Pine Lodge condominiums, renovated the Selkirk Lodge hotel, opened an activity center, enhanced two terrain parks for snowboarders and trick skiers, and added and upgraded ski lifts.


Contact Mike McLean at (509) 344-1266 or via e-mail at mikem@spokanejournal.com.