McCall Idaho Headline News

A routine halt to large purchases at Tamarack Resort has led to false rumors that construction at the resort has been halted, a Tamarack spokesman said Tuesday.

Construction has not been stopped at the huge Village Plaza complex at the heart of the resort, said Scott Turlington, vice president of external affairs and communications for the resort west of Donnelly.

The rumors grew to the point that Turlington sent a memo to all Tamarack employees on Friday.

"Tamarack has not stopped work on the Village and we do not intend to do so," his memo said.

"We have asked certain contractors to suspend large purchases until we review our overall spending plan, a process we expect to complete next week," the memo continued.

"Prudently matching expenses with receipts is part of the normal course of business and is nothing out of the ordinary," Turlington said in his memo.

"Tamarack has not missed any payments to any of its contractors and the work on the Village is on-going," the memo concluded.

The large purchases he referred to in the memo includes building materials such as sheet
on ordering routine rock and shingles, which are bought in large lots that can total hundreds of thousands of dollars, Turlington said Tuesday.

"We set budgets we like any business and have to stay within that budget and be prudent with expenses," he said.

"We've been operating in a very intense construction environment, and it is just time to look at where we're going to make sure we are going like we should be going," Turlington said.

The order to suspend large purchases was given to the general contractor on Village Plaza, Banner Sabey of Seattle, he said.

Banner Sabey then passed the word down to its subcontractors, which is where the mistaken rumors likely grew, he said.

"The word got twisted down the line," Turlington said. Meanwhile, work continues on the $91 million Village Plaza, he said.

Site work began in the spring of 2006, with a projected opening in late summer 2008.

On the Plaza Level, Village Plaza will consists of 56,000 square feet of shops, restaurants, boutiques, galleries, and resort services.

The first seven commercial leases for Village Plaza were signed this spring.

On the top three levels, 129 luxury condominiums, ranging in size from studios to three-bedroom loft penthouses, will serve as residences and lodging.

Those condos were sold in a real estate release in October 2005, netting $120 million. Underground, there will be a movie theater and 200 heated parking stalls for residents and guests.

Over the past year the resort has had between 400 and 700 construction workers on site.

The most recent count, from last week, had 735 contractors working on site, with about 80 of those contractors working for landscaping companies, a resort spokesman said.