Appalachian nears completion

VERNON-Originally scheduled for completion last December or January, the first phase of construction of the Appalachian will now open by the end of the summer, according to Intrawest officials. Even as the first part of the huge building, containing 100 resort housing units, is being finished, footings are being laid for the second wing of the Appalachian, containing 77 units. Those units, according to Bob Benyon, planning manager, sold out in half an hour earlier this year at prices ranging from $300,000-$500,000. The first phase of the building, according to township officials, will generate nearly a million dollars a year in property taxes. Purchasers will not be allowed to live permanently in the units, which will be delivered to their owners fully furnished, right down to televisions, cutlery and dishes. Despite its size, the Appalachian, shown in the inset below, is just a sliver of the $800-million Mountain Creek development. After the Appalachian is completed, work is scheduled to begin on the village shown in the center of the rendering below. The resort's "Main Street," it will contain boutiques, night clubs, indoor recreation for kids, and a village square. Clockwise from left, the underground parking garage that will have one space for each unit, the back of the Appalachian with the excavation for the year-round outdoor heated pool, a front view of the building made of two separate exposures joined together, and sheetrocker Cruz Guardado spackling seams in preparation for painting.