South Lake Tahoe OKs $20 million time-share project

By Susan Wood

Tribune staff writer

A 16-unit time-share complex to be built off Highway 50 and Takela Drive received a green light Tuesday from South Lake Tahoe leaders.

In a unanimous vote, the City Council approved planning maps that allow Lake Trout Development LLC to put in a $20 million-plus time-share complex on the two acres. Otherwise, the lakefront property was set under planning codes for a traditional hotel.

The Planning Commission recommended approval a few weeks ago.

Traditional hotels have become outdated entities in tourist-driven markets such as South Lake Tahoe, the developer's representative attorney Lew Feldman said after Tuesday's council meeting.

"In the last several years, the market has seen very few conventional hotels constructed. They're more difficult to build. The financial market is more willing to finance interval ownership projects," Feldman said.

Feldman also represents Marriott Ownership Resorts - an arm of the hotel giant - in making plans to possibly build a convention center project near Stateline.

Since the project idea first came onto the scene, several time-share projects have cropped up around the South Shore.

- Susan Wood can be reached at (530) 542-8009 or via e-mail at swood@tahoedailytribune.com