If you’ve been awaiting news about long-delayed expansion plans at Everline Resort and Spa in Olympic Valley, you can officially stop holding your breath. Though the resort has maintained permits for a massive phase two of development dating back decades now, owners of the resort have confirmed with Moonshine Ink that construction plans are not likely at this point.
“Phase two is not going to happen anytime soon, if at all,” said Ivan Ting, the Hong Kong-based controlling shareholder of Everline Resort. “Construction costs make a project of that size cost-prohibitive at this time. It’s safe to say this construction is not happening now.”
Formerly known as the Resort at Squaw Creek, the 405-room hotel was originally built in 1990, with the first environmental impact report dating back to 1985. At the time, Placer County also approved a phase two of development that provided a conditional use permit to essentially double the current size of the hotel. Phase two, which was mapped out in three subsections, called for the construction of an additional 221 condo units — totaling 460 bedrooms across three buildings — as well as 24 single-family townhomes, a parking garage, commercial spaces, and employee housing. It also included realignment of the existing access road and reconfiguration of a section of the parking lot.
In 2015, Everline began completing the conditions of the permit with Placer County to start construction on the first part of phase two, but that process was never finalized. A required design site review agreement with the county expired in August 2024, and according to Placer County records, a new application has not been submitted. Meanwhile, a water and sewage service agreement between Everline and the Olympic Valley Public Service District dating back to 2008 was not renewed by the developer and expired in November 2024.
“The developer has requested six extensions to the original 2008 agreement,” said Charley Miller, general manager of the Olympic Valley Public Service District. “The agreement was scheduled for a seventh extension in November 2024. However, for unknown reasons, the developer allowed it to lapse. Should they choose to proceed with the phase two project in the future, a new water and sewer service agreement would need to be renegotiated.”
Ting explained, “Water has always been a real issue with possible development there. When you add that to the construction cost, it just doesn’t make sense anymore.”
Everline is operated by a hotel management company called CoralTree Hospitality and is franchised under the Destination by Hyatt brand. But the resort is owned by a consortium called Everline Associates and the primary shareholder in that consortium is the Ting family from Hong Kong. Their family business, Kader Holdings Company Limited, is known mostly for producing children’s toys and model railways. Everline is the company’s primary real estate investment and only hotel property. Condos in the property are owned by individuals, while the Ting family owns the surrounding resort.
Water has always been a real issue with possible development there. When you add that to the construction cost, it just doesn’t make sense anymore.”
~ Ivan Ting, Everline controlling shareholder
According to Kader’s 2023 annual report, Ivan Ting controls 62% of Everline Associates’ shareholding. (Ting says he visits the Tahoe hotel property three or four times a year and when he’s there, he likes to ring the bell in Sandy’s Pub to signal that he’s buying a round of drinks for everyone in the restaurant.)
When he was a child, Ting and his parents would travel from Hong Kong to California’s Bay Area to visit family, and from there, they’d take trips to the Lake Tahoe area to go skiing. Ting’s uncle knew one of the original developers at Perini Land Development Company, which first built the hotel property in Olympic Valley that became Everline. Ting’s family became minority partners in the business, and over the years, they bought out other partners to become the majority shareholder. Ting says the family has not considered selling the business. “We love going there, so we want to make it work,” he says.
Before Everline was built, the Sierra Club and other organizations filed a lawsuit against the hotel’s original developer, citing environmental concerns and a lack of environmental impact reporting, but an agreement was reached in 1985 that involved the developer meeting 128 environmental conditions to protect the valley. Still, the hotel earned the nickname “The Death Star” by local opposers because of its shiny black resemblance to the Star Wars space station.
Several community benefits were built into the resort’s phase two development plans, including a community benefit fee, Washeshu Creek restoration work, and updating the resort’s dated and noisy HVAC system, which was first built in 1992 and has been the source of noise complaints from Olympic Valley residents for years now. Those community benefits will not see the light of day if phase two never materializes.
The hotel currently has 405 condo-style rooms with ski-in, ski-out access to Palisades Tahoe’s Resort Chair, as well as a spa, five restaurants, a heated outdoor swimming pool, 47,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor meeting space, and an 18-hole golf course.
In the valley, Everline is known for being a respectful, though somewhat penny-pinching neighbor. Residents have stated at public meetings that the resort has not reinvested in the property or kept up certain areas, like the golf course. Ting said the hotel has no major upgrades currently planned, but they are continuing regular maintenance, including road paving and fence restoration.
“This property has been tough to operate the whole time. Between droughts and other financial shocks, it’s a never-ending story. But we stuck it through,” Ting says. “We don’t have deep pockets, but we have pride in operating the place.”
