Waldorf Astoria Tahoe developer says luxury hotel project still on track in spite of delays

A marquee thanking patrons of the Tahoe Biltmore Lodge & Casino for more than three quarters of a century in business currently greets the fabled property's last visitors. It’s been a quiet two years since Hilton Hotels and Resorts announced that they were partnering with Newport Beach based developers EKN to , raze the existing property and rebuild it into a high end “village.” That relative silence is about to be broken by the sounds of demolition crews, officials said.

Initially, the new owners, who purchased the — best known for its $1.99 breakfasts, resident ghost Mary and signature low lit casino — announced that the teardown of the property’s main building would be . Advertisement Article continues below this ad “As soon as we received a unanimous project approval from the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency on April 26, 2023, we moved full steam ahead,” Ebbie Nakhjavani, founder and CEO of EKN Development Group, told the Tahoe Daily Tribune on Aug.

10, 2023. The plans for the new project, which would eventually be branded as a Waldorf Astoria, were set to make way for new construction in 2024. A rendering of the Waldorf Astoria Lake Tahoe which is set to be built over the footprint of the existing Tahoe Biltmore Hotel & Casino near the North Lake Tahoe state line in Crystal Bay, Nevada.

But 2023 came and went, with the Biltmore still standing. For those who call the Incline Village Crystal Bay corridor home, as well as those who work for agencies in the Tahoe Basin tasked with monitoring building and construction, the project blowing through its initial deadlines has raised a few questions — and for good reason.

Advertisement Article continues below this ad Were the project to fall through, it wouldn’t be the first time in recent memory that a proposed teardown and a total redo of the Biltmore property had been attempted and fallen short. In the spring of 2007, the would be savior of the Biltmore parcel was Incline Village based Roger Wittenberg.

He had made his name as the inventor of Trex, a composite decking made from recycled materials, and was known in the area as a guy with deep pockets. Wittenberg had purchased the 15 acre parcel on the Nevada side of the state line in North Lake Tahoe, which included the hotel casino, for $28.4 million at the height of the market.

He immediately announced plans to turn the property into a hotel, wellness retreat and public space called Boulder Bay. “We are looking forward to working in tandem with all of the stakeholders and communities involved to develop an exciting master plan,” he said in June 2007. Nevada City resident Fred Anderson decided to play slots for a bit at the Tahoe Biltmore Lodge & Casino earlier this week one final time.

The beloved 76 year old property on the Nevada side of North Lake Tahoeis set for a date with the wrecking ball on May 1, 2022. But the planning phase for the new project droned on for four years. By 2011, the Boulder Bay plans were approved but the nation’s financial crisis had caused owners to scale back the scope of the project.

At the same time, Boulder Bay’s lender went belly up; even after , by 2017, the Wittenbergs put Boulder Bay on pause for good. Advertisement Article continues below this ad “The timing just wasn’t right, economically,” said then Boulder Bay president and Wittenberg’s daughter Heather Bacon in 2017.

“And at the end of the day, that would have hurt the community.” When EKN stepped in and bought the property off Boulder Bay LLC for $56.8 million in October 2021, a conga line of announcements for a new, improved, luxury property to be built on the existing parcel — which featured a run down hotel and casino built in 1946 — sounded all too familiar to some.

Mary the ghost will haunt the hallways of the legendary Tahoe Biltmore Lodge & Casino no more. "The Bilty's" final day in business is Saturday, April 23 and the building is set for demolition the following week. “People have been watching closely,” neighbor Ann Nichols, a Crystal Bay based real estate agent, told SFGATE on Tuesday.

“Historically, these projects are difficult to make work financially.” Advertisement Article continues below this ad Tahoe Regional Planning Agency spokesperson Jeff Cowen told SFGATE Tuesday that even if the EKN/Waldorf Astoria project isn’t on its exact original timeline, “as far as we know, everything’s moving forward.” “They have already started grading out the area behind the existing hotel,” Cowen said.

“They have a construction schedule that they’re still maintaining.” After the initial conversation with SFGATE regarding the general timeline and progress of the project, Cowen said he followed up with the agency’s project tracker. He wrote SFGATE Wednesday that he was told "there hasn’t been any new documents entered on the project since the draft permit was approved by the Governing Board last year.” A rendering of the Waldorf Astoria Lake Tahoe.

The luxury "village" is slated to begin construction in 2025 and open in 2028 on the footprint of the Tahoe Biltmore Hotel & Casino near the state line in North Lake Tahoe. This doesn’t necessarily raise any red flags for the project going forward, the TRPA spokesperson explained. “Special Condition 5.B.

and that work [started] in 2023,” Cowen wrote. “The grading and roadway work completed last year means that they are in compliance in part.” Advertisement Article continues below this ad Similarly, Washoe County spokesperson Bethany Drysdale said the project is on track as far as the county is concerned.

“The applicant just received approval for entitlements in December,” she wrote SFGATE on Wednesday. “And we meet them today on processes and next steps. As far as permitting and planning is concerned, the project is underway.” “We are obviously moving forward with the project as we started per our permits,” EKN CEO Nakhjavani told SFGATE on Wednesday.

“Delays were just minor related to asbestos and remediation.” Nakhjavani explained that the timeline for the project is now to have the main Biltmore building demolished before May and to finish what he calls “horizontal construction,” including grading and readying the site for the build by this October or November.

The plan in the interim is to make sure building permits are issued that would enable construction to start in May 2025 with a year, or slightly more, of construction to follow, he said. Advertisement Article continues below this ad “We’re planning to open hopefully early 2028,” he said, then laughed: “There’s a lot going on in the mountains, and that is weather related — so that’s with God cooperating.” A rendering of the Waldorf Astoria Lake Tahoe which is set to be built over the footprint of the existing Tahoe Biltmore Hotel & Casino near the state line in Crystal Bay, Nevada.

Delays on projects or projects with variable construction windows and long timelines are nothing new to EKN, Nakhjavani said. He used the development group’s Residence Inn and Courtyard by Marriott project called in the Monterey Peninsula — — as the most recent example. “Monterey, it took about 23 years to get approved,” he said.

“So, the mountain — it’s not necessarily offering a challenge.... For us, as a developer, we’re very excited to work with this type of architecture, to create something beautiful and exciting. But [Tahoe] doesn’t necessarily set a more high barrier to entry than any other environmentally sensitive location.” Advertisement Article continues below this ad While Nakhjavani admitted there’s a long way to go between now and the project’s completion, he assures that big things are happening behind the scenes in the lead up.

“Hilton is a million percent involved, putting a watchful eye on this project,” he concluded. “EKN is building the first mountain Waldorf Astoria, and we’re setting the standard for what that looks like.” — — — —.