Summit/Wasatch.

• Position: Regional Report - Interview

Wasatch and Summit counties are at the forefront of economic growth with a resurgence in visitors to resorts and state parks. But the communities face tough decisions in planning for the future while preserving the area's appeal to residents and tourists.

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We'd like to thank the Park City Marriott for hosting. the event and Myles Rademan, director of public affairs for Park City, for moderating: the discussion.

PARTICIPANTS:

(1) Miles Rademan, Park City Municipal Corporation; (2) Donnie Novelle, Park City Transportation; (3) Richard Bizzaro, All Resort Group; (4) Debbie Batt, Park City Marriott; (5) Dave Stobart, Jordanelle State Park; (6) Dan Flick, Stein Eriksen Lodge; (7) Hal Leonard, Canyons; (6) Alex Butwinski, Park City Council; (9) Hans Fuegi, Grub Steak Restaurant; (10) Mitchel Burns, Red Ledges; (11) Curtis Taylor, Heber Valley Bank; (12) Tim Anker, Commerce Real Estate Solutions; (13) Bob Jasper, Summit County; (14) Chris Robinson, Summit County Council; (15) Dirk Beal, Deer Valley Resort; (16) Bill Malone, Park City Chamber/Convention & Visitors Bureau; (17) George Hansen, Conductive Composites Company; 8) Shad Sorenson, UVU; (19) Tony Golden, Canyons Club;

Not Pictured: Jonathan Weidenhamer, Park City Municipal Corp

We've been hearing that the recession is over. Is the recession over for your business? How has your business fared through these last couple of years of tough economic times?

TAYLOR: Things started getting bad three years ago, and we've been waiting to the find the bottom and see things get a little better. I don't know if it's just a springtime bounce or if we really are seeing a change, but there have been good things happening.

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It seems like folks that have been on the sidelines of the real estate industry waiting for prices to go lower have decided maybe we're near the bottom and it's time to step in and start soaking up some of this real estate that's been lingering out there on the market, and that's helping.

Overall, we see better numbers. It seems like we've absorbed the damage to a greater extent. And so I have a bright outlook for the future, although we spent the better part of the last years with some residential housing policies that got us in the mess we're in.

BURNS: At Red Ledges, we started selling property about three years ago, which was about the time the whole market crashed. So I don't even know what the good times are. It's really made us sharpen the pencil as we pushed through these last three years. This springtime, we are well ahead of where we were last year and the year before, both in people that are interested in talking about real estate, and people actually purchasing.

ANKER: On the commercial side of things, some projects are made to take 10 or 20 years. The new Boyer Tech Center in Kimball Junction has a fully entitled, 1.2-million-square-foot office project that will double the size of our current office inventory--but it's just entitlement. It's going to take years and years to build it out.

BEAL: At Deer Valley Resort, our yearover-year revenue is vastly improved. We've been in operation 30 years, and it was one of our top few years, although not at the high watermark of a few years back. It doesn't hurt when you have great snow and some pent-up demand.

There's some sectors that are still lagging. Our group business is definitely not back to where it was. But the individual skier, especially in our market, seems to be pretty resilient, and we've built over the last three years from that dip.

FUEGI: Most restaurants in town were probably off, at the low level, about 30 percent of their sales. It's definitely picked up this year. People seem to be parting with their money a bit easier than they used to a year or so ago. And for the first time, we can actually consider buying new equipment and making improvements to the restaurant rather than just keeping the staff. So that's the positive.

ROBINSON: One metric that we monitor is evaluation of building permits and number of permits issued. The first quarter of this year, we did $6.8 million in valuations. Compare that to the heyday of 2007, when we did $23.4 million--it's a decrease of 71 percent. But the good news is, in 2010, the same first quarter valuation was about $4 million; and so we increased 73 percent compared to the first quarter of 2010.

FLICK: At Stein Eriksen Lodge, there were definitely signs of palpable improvement over 2009-2010. Our occupancy and revenue was up year to year. But the big challenge for us with the addition of the St. Regis and Montage is rate. Rate has gotten incredibly competitive. All the affluent travelers are still looking for deals.

During the winter months, 90 percent of our group business--and our group business during the winter months is about 30 percent of our business--was strictly high-end investment banking. We actually signed a contract recently with one of those big investment...