Juergen Bartels kept his promise Thursday, although he was about three months late.
Last August, the chairman and chief executive officer of Seatle-based Westin Hotels & Resorts was in Salt Lake City looking at a site for a new upscale hotel. He said he'd be back in 150 days to make an announcement on a site, hinting at possible locations in Salt Lake City and Park City.On Thursday morning, Bartels announced that Park City was the winner - twice - as Westin unveiled plans to build two resort hotels in a proposed development near Park City.
The two properties would represent a $200 million investment and are planned for the proposed Star Pointe Ranch, a 6,500-acre master-planned development on the highway to Park City, near the Lucas Western plant. The development is a project of George H. Johnson, president of Johnson International, a development and investment firm based in Scottsdale, Ariz.
The Westin Star Pointe Ranch Resort features a large hotel, comprising 400 rooms and 100 "casitas," (separate rooms at ground level) 45,000 square feet of meeting/convention space, an 18-hole golf course and clubhouse, indoor-outdoor swimming pool, tennis center, retail, restaurants and a "western town."
A second, smaller hotel, the Westin Banyan Tree Spa and Resort, will have 250 rooms and 100 casitas, an executive wellness center, an 18-hole golf course and the first Banyan Tree Spa in the United States.
Westin said a groundbreaking for the project is scheduled for June with a proposed opening in the summer of 1999.
It would be the largest hotel complex in the Park City area. The Olympia Park is currenly the largest with some 200 rooms.
In a statement issued prior to a late morning press conference scheduled in Salt Lake City Thursday, Bartels said Star Pointe Ranch "will be an elegant rural and mountain resort community, and Westin is excited to add these two properties to our roster."
The development would represent a return to Utah for Westin. The company managed the Hotel Utah during a period in the 1980s until the hotel was closed in 1987 and later converted into The Joseph Smith Memorial Building.
Thursday's announcement comes a little over a year after Westin announced its $12 million technology center in the University of Utah Research Park that consolidates marketing, customer service, financial systems and other support activities.
Last month, the Wall Street Journal reported that an investment group led by Starwood Capital Group and Goldman Sachs & Co. wants to sell Westin Hotels & Resorts, which owns, manages and franchises some 100 hotels and resorts in 23 countries with another 18 currently under development.
The Journal said the owners hope to get $1 billion or more for the upscale chain of 102 hotels. Marriott International and a real-estate investment trust controlled by Starwood were considered possible bidders for the chain.
The owners are also considering selling Westin to the public through a stock offering, the report said.
Goldman Sachs was said to be handling negotiations with potential buyers because of Starwood's possible involvement in both sides of the deal, the report said.
Starwood Lodging Trust, a Phoenix-based public real-estate investment trust, is a leading contender to acquire Westin, the report said. The chairman and CEO of the trust is Barry Sternlicht, who is also president and chief executive of Starwood Capital.
Sandra Merkin, spokeswoman for Westin, said it was the company's policy "not to comment on speculation" regarding the report that the company is up for sale.