Benloch Ranch Aims To Make Park City Affordable

You can make a solid argument that Park City, Utah is the Western sweet spot for those who love both the outdoors and their creature comforts. With Deer Valley Resort and Park City Mountain Resorts at your doorstep, you’ve got skiing in winter. In summer, there are more than a dozen golf courses, prized rivers for fly fishing, and endless miles of mountain biking and trail running to exercise on. Five National Parks, including Yellowstone, are just a few hour’s drive away.

All of this and the Western chic of downtown Park City, famed for its bars, restaurants, retail, and of course, for hosting Robert Redford’s Sundance Film Festival. Then factor in accessibility, since Park City is a mere 45-minute drive from the new Salt Lake City International Airport.

It may seem like a slam dunk, but there’s a not uncommon catch, which is money. The price of entry is steep indeed, with the median price for a single-family home in Park City currently around $2,122,500. That’s a fair bit of coin for a second home.

Enter 40-year-old Jamie Mackay, the founder of Wheelhaus, one of America’s pioneering luxury tiny home manufacturers, and a company responsible in part for the tiny house boom. Mackay’s diminutive homes are distinguished by their cool, sleek, less-is-more design. They resemble a chic, albeit small, European apartment, not the log cabin aesthetic or cute cottage look that many tiny home builders have chosen. The Wheelhaus mantra of “Live Large with Less” has now been applied by Mackay to a ski community.

He has just unveiled Benloch Ranch, a new 2,550-acre “adventure living community” just outside of Park City, Utah. Situated between the Wasatch and Uinta Mountains, it lies on the south side of the Jordanelle Reservoir and offers water and mountain views.

What these homes are definitely not are tiny homes, which should come as a relief to anyone not enamored with that current craze. These are pre-designed homes that appear to have sprung from the pages of Dwell, with lots of glass for those expansive views. Yet the minimalist feel is the same Euro-cool look that informed his Wheelhaus homes.

The models have names like Helix, which is the smallest home at 1,572 square feet, offering two bedrooms and two baths. Like the other models, it sits on a pod-like deck that surrounds the house, an invitation for easy alfresco living. At a starting price of $695,000, it’s a noteworthy price point in an expensive location.  

Then there’s the double-A-frame called the Alpine, a two-bedroom, two-bath model at 2,542 square feet starting at $747,900; the Stack, an $859,000 home with four bedrooms and three baths; and the Icon, a 5,774 square foot home with three bedrooms and three baths for $969,900. There will also be larger Summit Townhomes available as well as customized options.  In terms of land, these homes will sit on anywhere from one-quarter acre to one acre for the larger homes. Approximately 900 acres of land at Benloch Ranch are being preserved as open space.

The ground has been broken and the first two spec homes are in place. Over time, there will be commercial development at the entry to the community, including restaurants and shops. There will also be a clubhouse, spa and convention center in the future. In years to come, it’s expected that as many as 2,000 homes will be built here, creating a substantial new community.

At a time when second homes and Covid-19 bolt holes in the West have become very desirable, Benloch Ranch should have a strong appeal to potential second home owners who love this rarefied version of the wild West.