Luxury resort near Tuacahn to break ground

Artist's rendering of the new Sentierre Resort in Padre Canyon | Image courtesy of Sentierre, St. George News

IVINS – Site preparation has begun and ground is expected to be broken soon on a luxury resort to be built adjacent to Tuacahn Center for the Arts.

The new Sentierre Resort Hotel and Residences, Padre Canyon will be located south of Tuacahn, bordering Snow Canyon State Park and the Red Cliffs Desert Reserve. The resort will feature 105 guest rooms and suites and 42 privately owned villas.

Map showing the planned Sentierre Resort, left, with the existing Tuacahn Center for the Arts on the right | Image courtesy of Sentierre Resort, St. George News
Map showing the planned Sentierre Resort, left, with the existing Tuacahn Center for the Arts on the right | Image courtesy of Sentierre Resort, St. George News | Click image to enlarge

The resort site is currently being prepared for construction by presoaking, cutting and filling lots for the private residential villas on the south loop, Sentierre Vice President of Operations Jessica Mousley said. Construction is expected to begin this summer on a model villa and in the fall on the resort.

“The construction team is completing steps for stormwater pollution prevention and added erosion controls to prevent soil erosion in the event of heavy rainfall,” Mousley said.

The resort will take about two years to build and, when finished, maximum capacity will be 360 guests in 105 rooms. Sentierre is expected to employ 210 people when it opens in 2018.

The resort is being built on a 43-acre parcel of property that is desert tortoise habitat and originally belonged to Tuacahn. Although it is surrounded by the Red Cliffs Reserve, the piece was left out when the Habitat Conservation Plan was created 20 years ago to protect the endangered tortoise, former HCP Administrator Bob Sandberg said in an earlier interview.

The property was checked for tortoises and then fenced, Sandberg said, and the few animals found on the property were moved to the adjacent reserve.

Read more: 5-star resort to be built near Tuacahn

The north end of the Sentierre Resort property, looking towards Tuacahn, Ivins, Utah, Feb. 19, 2016 | Photo by Julie Applegate, St. George News
The north end of the Sentierre Resort property, looking towards Tuacahn, Ivins, Utah, Feb. 19, 2016 | Photo by Julie Applegate, St. George News

Some concerns have been expressed by residents about the resort blocking access to existing Red Cliffs Desert Reserve trails; however, company representatives say it won’t be a problem.

“Sentierre is continuing to work with Snow Canyon State Park, Friends of Snow Canyon, the City of Ivins and the (Habitat Conservation) Technical Committee to create a clear and complete trail access experience for locals and guests,” Mousley said.

“We hope to release more details later this summer on the planned and approved pedestrian, hiking and biking pathways.”

On Tuesday, the Washington County Commission granted Ivins City $150,000 and agreed to loan the city up to an additional $150,000 for construction of a paved trail along Tuacahn Drive due to what it said is a countywide positive impact the new trail will have.

The trail will connect to Sentierre and provide access to Tuacahn from the Snow Canyon and the Snow Canyon Parkway trails, which connect to the larger, multicity trail system.

Average nightly rates at the resort will be in the range of $600 or more and the focus is on being a family destination resort for wellness, relaxation and enjoyment of the outdoors. Each guest will be assigned a “path guide,” whose function is to help guests create and plan a unique experience for their stay.

Sentierre is hoping to be a four- or five-star facility, Mousley said in an earlier interview, but the rating won’t be official until after the property is completed and then inspected by Forbes Travel Guide, the organization that owns the only legitimate star-rating system for the hotel industry.

For more information visit the Sentierre website.

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Twitter: @STGnews

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2016, all rights reserved.

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14 Comments

  • McCoy June 26, 2016 at 4:09 pm

    I went to Tuacahn High School and this is so not okay. People come to our canyon of the gods to indulge in theatre, music and art surrounded by the beauty of nature, not to shell out 600 bucks a night at a resort that would remove innocent tortoises from their natural habitat. I am furious about this!

    • Paul Jensen June 27, 2016 at 10:11 am

      How do you feel about Tuacahn High School displacing those same tortoises so you could go to school their when all you’d have to have done was go to school near where you lived?

      • .... June 28, 2016 at 6:16 am

        LOL ! good one. and McCoy is nowhere around ha ha ha ha !

    • holger June 27, 2016 at 10:27 am

      The City of Ivins (mayor) sold off the crown jewels to the first group to show up with a hastily drawn blueprint. Multiple stories, butting right up against the cliffs.

      More than $600/night? Not a chance. And this wont be a 5-star resort. The ability to run a 5-star facility takes an incredible amount of experience and dedication. This management team is new to the industry.

      Ivins was sold a bill of goods. Just one more in a long line “developers” rushing to take advantage of a small town council with stars in their eyes.

    • Brian June 27, 2016 at 12:07 pm

      Wait, so it’s OK to invade the “canyon of the gods” and “remove innocent tortoises from their natural habitat” while building a massive collection of structures and roads, but only if it’s to “induge in theater, music, and art surrounded by the beauty of nature”, but not for family vacations or profit.

      So it isn’t actions that matter, but motives? I guess some animals and motives are just more equal than others.

      Is the concrete they used to build Tuacahn somehow special and less damaging to the environment than the concrete they use to build resorts? Were desert tortoises somehow magically never on the footprint where Tuacahn and it’s roads were built, but are all over the place where this is going to be built?

      I’m just looking for a little intellectual honesty here, but maybe that’s too much to ask from someone educated at a high school focusing on the arts.

    • .... June 28, 2016 at 6:13 am

      you’re furious about this ? LOL ! go get a prescription of an anti-depressant and go watch a movie LMAO !

  • Thecadean June 26, 2016 at 4:33 pm

    Oh well there goes a cheap family tickets at Tuacahn. It was fun while it lasted

    • vcllist June 26, 2016 at 8:30 pm

      Tuacahn isn’t building the resort, they just originally owned the land. So I’m not sure why you think ticket prices will be affected by it.

      • 42214 June 26, 2016 at 11:32 pm

        Does this mean we will get mature, thoughtful productions at Tuacahn instead of an endless stream of Disney and children’s productions. Tuacahn has become boooooooring.

  • Flagsdad June 26, 2016 at 8:54 pm

    There seems to something amiss if this article tells the whole story. With 105 room, 42 villas, 210 employees and vendors supplying the resort the increase in traffic on Tuachan Rd will be significant. The developer should be required to build the trail to mitigate the traffic increase for the many local residents who walk the road. This should not be paid for with public funds. I did not read about any widening of the road. Are Ivins elected officials so enamored with the project the developer was given a pass in adequately mitigating the increase in traffic?

    • Brian June 27, 2016 at 12:15 pm

      You do realize Tuacahn has 1,920 seats in it’s outdoor amphitheater? That means there would have to be an average of 13 people per room / villa at the resort to have the same traffic impact that Tuacahn has. And with Tuacahn everybody is coming and going at the same time, 6 nights a week, creating way more traffic havoc than this place will have, where the traffic patterns will be spread through the day. And I have a hunch they won’t be setting off fireworks every night, either.

      That being said, to be fair, if they were building this in my backyard I wouldn’t like it either and would be looking for reasons to hate / fight it, too.

  • hiker75 June 27, 2016 at 7:23 am

    Actually, as an Ivins resident, I find the city is enamored with all developers!

  • .... June 28, 2016 at 6:19 am

    Well I’m sure they will book dumbob a couple of times a month so he can share his Zionist expertise with the crowd ! LOL

  • pragmaticstgeorge July 16, 2016 at 8:05 am

    All citizens of Ivins need to beware. The sponsorship of this project is a conman. Do your homework! The City had been used and lied to.

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