MIDWAY — At first glance, you might figure it would be more than a little bit daunting to developers Bob Fuller and Tom Whitaker that their new Zermatt Resort & Spa sits directly across the street from the Heber Valley's longtime signature resort, The Homestead.
What they're doing is akin to opening a ballpark across from Yankee Stadium.
But you would be wrong.
If it wasn't for the pride and affection they have for The Homestead, they know that Zermatt Resort wouldn't even exist.
Both men belong to families that once owned what is now The Homestead, and they've never quite been able to shake that legacy — or pride — from their system.
In 1875, Fuller's great grandfather, Simon Schneitter, acquired the land The Homestead sits on, and his grandfather, Simon "Jake" Schneitter, developed it into Schneitter's Hot Pots, a place where a weary traveler or local could soak in the natural hot springs and enjoy scrumptious fried chicken cooked by Jake's wife, Fanny.
Whitaker's father, Scott, and his brothers Ferrin and Berlin bought Schneitter's Hot Pots in 1952, expanded the popular operation and renamed it The Homestead.
The Whitakers, in turn, sold out in 1972. Several owners have come and gone since then. The current owners, the Shannon family, bought The Homestead in 1986 and expanded it to its current size that includes, besides the original hot pot, almost 200 rooms, a full-service spa and an 18-hole golf course.
The new Zermatt Resort & Spa — already mostly operational as it speeds toward its official grand opening on Sept. 13 — will have 469 rooms when all is said and done. Plus 23 meeting rooms, an executive putting course and eight hot pots.
The Homestead's little brother will also be its big brother.
"What I'd like to make clear is we aren't out to hurt The Homestead, not at all," said Whitaker recently as he sat at a table in Zermatt's sparkling new Schneitter's Restaurant. "We want to complement The Homestead. This is not a finite pie. I think we can grow the whole valley. We love The Homestead; always will."
As a boy, Whitaker worked every summer at The Homestead for his dad and uncles. "I grew up in the resort business," he said. "I got to swim every day."
His partner, Bob Fuller, whose mother was a Schneitter, was too young to actually work at Schneitter's Hot Pots before it was sold, but he remembers the family stories as if they were told yesterday.
"The place was open from Memorial Day to Labor Day, and everybody in the family just worked, worked, worked," remembered Fuller. "That's all I heard about."
It is part of Schneitter/Fuller family lore the day in 1952 when the Whitakers dropped by and, after sampling some fine cooking, asked if the Schneitter's might be interested in selling.
"By then, Jake had died and Fanny had had a stroke; so the kids were running it and they said, 'yeah, we'll sell it,'" remembered Bob. "I don't think they'd ever even thought about selling it."
The Whitakers bought the entire 60-acre operation — Bob winces when he tells this part — for $150,000.
Two decades later, when the Whitakers sold out, they got about $3 million.
Both Bob Fuller and Tom Whitaker moved on. Bob became a dentist and Tom a businessman and farmer. But neither man could move very far from their old Homestead roots. Eleven years ago, Bob started buying up pasture land across the street with the idea of developing another world-class resort in Midway; eventually he recruited other investors, including Tom.
"I think we have the most beautiful valley in the world here," Fuller said. "We decided whatever we built, we wanted it to be world-class."
Just like the place they grew up in across the street.
Lee Benson's column runs Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Please send e-mail to benson@desnews.com and faxes to 801-237-2527.