Promise Fades...

There is a story in the Wall Street Journal today that seems very telling of the economic climate in Idaho. It deals with the Tamarack Resort in Donnelly. Working in Real Estate in Boise, I have dealt with many agents who are and have been involved with Tamarack. At one point they even chartered a bus to bring Realtors up to Donnelly to ski and catch a glimpse of the development. With Tamarack in the beginning it was all "champagne wishes and caviar dreams" and then the credit dried up and now the town is left with 40%-65% less business that it had. Let alone the continuous drop in land prices for everyone, who were told that it wold only keep increasing in value. Like a domino effect all property values have fallen and with the main source of employment gone, the people have moved on.

Donnelly's boomtown air is gone. Tamarack and its contractors have laid off many. Jerry Frank, a Boise contractor who is part of the Tamarack Club -- $60,000 a membership, at current rates -- says he closed his Tamarack office. Mike Pannell, a developer who bought the Little Firefly Cafe this spring, says breakfast business is down about 40% from last spring.

Lani Anderson, who manages the local Long Valley motel, says occupancy has fallen at least 65%. "All I'm catering to now is the weary traveler, and there's not a whole lot of them with gas prices," she says.

Locals lament the town's fleeting promise. Lorie Mauk had moved back to the Donnelly area last year for a Tamarack job, having left the area years ago. But Tamarack laid her off in February, and she says the town's job situation is back to how it was before the resort brought prosperity.

Tamarack's base village is unfinished. The area slated for a Thai restaurant is roofless. The ski shop and pub are in plastic tents.

Home sales have withered, says Judy Land, a local real-estate agent. In 2006, 1,250-square-foot Tamarack cottages sold for more than $900,000, the resort says; Ms. Land says she recently sold one for $650,000.

The resort is continuing visitor operations over the summer, with lifts running for mountain bikers, and expects to run ski operations this winter. Ms. Land expects the resort to recover. But for now, she says, the few potential buyers "want to get away from the depression, from a resort that's in trouble."
Source-http://online.wsj.com/public/article_print/SB121539589279431523.html

It is no wonder why the economy is THE issue for the upcoming election. It effects us all.
Read the entire article here.