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Pictured: Living the life. Tallus owner Rob Mitchell with wife Sharyl and sons Luke and Ryan at Crowley Lake. In the background on the Jet Ski is Tallus owner Chad Horning with son CJ./

Rob Mitchell and Chad Horning, partners in Chase Merritt, a privately owned commercial and residential real estate asset management and investment management firm, are hoping to turn right place, wrong time into right place, right time with Tallus.

Sited along the 10th fairway of Sierra Star golf course off Meridian Boulevard, Tallus, whose first phase when complete will feature nine luxury homes, was acquired by Chase Merritt, based in Irvine, last October.

“This is a legacy property for us,” said Mitchell, who explained that he grew up visiting Mammoth and “always wanted to have a kick ass ski club [in Mammoth].”

“We want to create a family-style, next-generation experience,” he explained. Which would match the principals’ biographical profiles. Mitchell, 45, has two children, and Horning, 40, has four.

Tallus was the brainchild of Architect/Developer Eric Fishburn, who began work on the project back in 2004. Conceived as a fractional-use property (dividing lavish trophy homes into 1/6 ownership shares), Tallus, says Mitchell, was initially priced at $800,000 a share.

Thanks to the Great Recession reset, club memberships now go for $450,000 (for a 1/6 share). And thanks to a deal cut with Mammmoth Mountain Ski Area, memberships include 10 transferable black ski passes during the winter and 2 transferable golf season passes in the summer.

“It’s a country club, not just for you, but for your friends as well,” Mitchell says. “The fractional model is the best thing in the world,” he added. “It’s the only way to have a $3 or $4 million house in a vacation area.” And thanks to a partnership with Elite Alliance, members have the option of trading their dedicated Tallus weeks with folks who own luxury homes all over the world.

Acquiring Tallus was not easy: Mitchell said it took about 18 months negotiating with 17 different banks and the FDIC. But once completed, it seemed a natural for Mitchell to bring back Fishburn to complete phase one.

“Eric’s vision of what should be there was correct. It’s just that his timing was bad.”

Locals should also be familiar with Tallus’s G.M. Craig Copeland (former G.M. of 80|50) and Cai Lepre, who manages the sales office.

Tallus will be hosting open houses all weekend from 9-5 Friday through Monday.

Fishburn regains control at Tallus, pushes forward with original vision

It’s full-speed ahead one more time for Tallus.

The luxury vacation home development (referred to in past marketing as a Private Residence Club) located along the 10th fairway of Sierra Star Golf Course has been purchased by Chase Merritt, a privately-owned real estate investment firm located in Irvine.

The deal, which was consummated for less than $10 million, was finalized on Oct. 19.

Tallus currently consists of four luxury vacation homes, with a fifth nearly completed, and four more due for completion by the start of the ‘12-’13 ski season.

That would complete the first phase of the project.

Tallus is also entitled to build 10 additional homes in a 2nd phase.

The Tallus project consists of 4- and 5-bedroom, tri-level homes. Amenities include a private clubhouse, onsite staff, concierge services and complimentary shuttle service to and from the airport, slopes, dining and more.

Eric Fishburn was the Principal (and Architect) of the project when it was conceived almost ten years ago.

He then lost control of it when Minneapolis-based lender Marshall Investment Corporation foreclosed on the project in 2007.

But life has a way of circling around. To wit, Chase Merritt has re-installed Fishburn as the face of Tallus.

As Fishburn said over lunch Wednesday at Good Life Cafe, initially, most investors eyeing a bargain-basement acquisition of Tallus did so with the idea that it would make the most sense to break up the project; buy out the existing six owners who own 1/6th fractional shares and sell the homes individually.

The thought was that this strategy could raise enough capital to pay off the purchase while retaining the property in the proposed second phase – with the idea of selling or developing the second phase at a later date.

Instead, Chase Merritt is taking a different tack – embracing Tallus’s original business model, but at a lower price point.

While 1/6th shares in Tallus were priced at approximately $695,000 when shares were first offered to the public circa 2004, Fishburn anticipates resuming sales of fractional shares next spring at a price in the $400s.

For this winter, Tallus will rent to the public on a nightly basis. Fishburn anticipates charging $1,700/night on high winter weekends and $2,000/night or more over the Christmas holiday.

The project is zoned for nightly rentals, and Fishburn believes the Town’s recent promise of a crackdown on illegal home rentals could make renting at Tallus a relatively hassle-free (and legal) option.

So why go back to the original game plan? “Every other ski area has a high end but Mammoth,” he said. “There’s a real demand for quality, and there’s demand for larger homes where multiple families can gather.”

Fishburn also talked about the green aspect of fractional homes, referencing the oft-cited statistic that second homeowners typically only use their second homes about six weeks out of the year. Fishburn figures why not spend those six weeks in a 5,000-square foot, LEED-certified home where you don’t have to worry about maintenance and where you never have to get in a car.