Tallus reloads as ski and golf club
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.
I’ve mentioned this before to another writer for the Sheet. It is misleading to the public to call Eric Fishburn an Architect. He does not have an Architect’s License in California, or anywhere else I can find, and in California it is illegal to use the term Architect or Architectural in reference to what you do or who you are unless you have a license. It is actually punishable by law with fines and jail time. Eric is a designer and has had to have an Architect or Engineer actually produce his design work for permitting. When the original Altis Project was approved based on his designs, the planning commission violated the municipal code by accepting the use permit without having an Architect or Engineer listed on the design product. I talked with commissioners and staff at the time but their response was basically “Oh I didn’t know”.
There are other people locally who design buildings and for the most part they make it clear to their clients and the public that they are not Architects. Eric Fishburn should do the same.
“…club memberships now go for $450,000 (for a 1/6 share)…”
Ummm…. A 1/6’th share is 2 months access. If you pay cash and keep your share for 10 years, that’s $22,500 a month rent.
I wonder what the resale value of one share on a 10 year old fractional ownership condominium hotel would be in a mass market tourist recreation area 4 hours from L.A.?
“It’s the only way to have a $3 or $4 million house in a vacation area.”
Well, the gottcha is that you really don’t have a “…$3 or $4 million house in a vacation area…” do you?
But I wish the developers all the success and luck in the World. Don’t want to be a Negative Nancy do I? At least they will clean up the mess they made along the Main Path through that area. And think of the DIF and TOT!!!