McCall Idaho Headline News

Major construction at Tamarack Resort is back in full swing with the reauthorization of major purchases, a resort spokesman said this week.

Tamarack has told its general contractor, Banner Sabey of Seattle, that it was lifting a ban placed in June of large purchases of materials such as wallboard and roof shingles, said Scott

Turlington, the resort's vice president of external affairs and communications.
Last month, Turlington said the action was a routine halt to purchases while the resort stepped back and examined its expenses.

The action spurred rumors the resort was in financial trouble and that massive layoffs of construction workers was imminent. Those rumors were false, Turlington said.

Work continued on the $91 million Village Plaza at the heart of the resort during the budget review, he said.

"Tamarack and Banner Sabey have achieved our objective of matching expenses and receipts and now have a revised plan in place that will allow us to complete Village Plaza," Turlington said this week.

"This agreement allows sub-contractors to resume purchases for materials and to have a defined scope of labor," he said. `As a part of this revised plan, the spending is controlled more tightly but will continue to be very substantial."

About 500 construction workers are at the resort along with the 375 employees of Tamarack, he said.

Village Plaza, which will contain condominiums and spaces for restaurants and shopping, will be completed next year as scheduled, Turlington said.

The pause in spending was needed to ensure the resort did not end up spending more than the $91 million budgeted for Village Plaza, he said.

Resort officials worked closely with Credit Suisse, which has issued Tamarack a $250 million line of credit, to keep the project in line, he said.