Remaining residents asked to move; Tahoe Beach Club ready to break ground

The remaining tenants at the Tahoe Shore Mobile Home Park at Stateline, Nev., have been given 90 days to find new housing now that owners of the Tahoe Beach Club will be breaking ground on a 20-acre luxury lakefront condominium project.

This announcement should come as no surprise to the people who own or rent the mobile homes since they were originally told in 2003 that they would have to move so the project could be built.

The Tahoe Beach Club has been 14 years in the making and now it looks like the first shovels will be moving dirt at the new lakeside development by June, 2016.

Tahoe Shores Mobile Home Park is located at the end of Kahle Drive. In 2002 there were 155 mobile homes on the property, occupied by people who paid $500 per month to rent their space. The gated community had a large beach area between Edgewood Tahoe and Nevada State Beach.

It hasn't been a quick-moving project because of the environmental concerns that needed to be address as well as a recession.

In 2003, the developers filed a "change in use" for the property with the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (TRPA) and gave the home owners notice. TRPA received the formal application for the Tahoe Beach Club in 2004. The five year environmental process was completed in 2009 when the TRPA board unanimously approved the project.

"Our board voted unanimously for this and we are not unanimous on anything," said John Singlaub at the time of approval when he was the TRPA executive director. "I think they really hit it here in terms of environmental improvements."

Tahoe Beach Club currently owns most of the mobile homes (also known as coaches) in the park but there are still 12 living there that own their home.

"I've talked to each one of them individually," said Tom Castandea, an associate on the project, who has a sales office on the corner of Kahle Drive and Highway 50.

In 2003 the property owners gained coaches from people who wanted to sell. Those still at the location have options of having their home moved to a location of their choice. Tahoe Beach Club will pick up all expenses if moved within 150 miles. So far, Castendea said three owners have taken him up on that offer. The others haven't decided yet. Those people will have 180 days to be completely out but they need to tell TBC their plans within 75 days of receiving official notice, which should be this week.

The area looks fairly vacant already, with 40 empty coaches and 25 vacant spaces.

"We gave the renters 90 days to move instead of the required 30 days," Castendea told South Tahoe Now. "We gave them extra time because there will be more housing available in the off-season in three months."

Castendea also said they'll work out moving details if the renters happen to have kids in school at the time.

When TRPA approved the plan they required the developers to provide 15 moderate-income housing units and 39 units of affordable housing. Affordable means that renters have to make under 80% of the median income in Douglas County.

The developers already purchased the Aspen Grove Apartments at 170 Michelle Drive, two blocks up from where the Tahoe Beach Club will be built. Deed restricted apartments were required before the building began. The required 15 moderate-incoming housing units have yet to be acquired according to Castendea, but they don't have to be ready until prior to the Tahoe Beach Club's completion which is still a few years away.

The private beach at the park is now full of construction equipment.

A rebuilt 160-foot pier has already been completed, and the Kingsbury General Improvement District (KGID) water treatment plant on the beach will be torn down now that they have completed their $19 million new building which is located near the beginning of Tahoe Shores.

The treatment plant is an ozone and ultraviolet one and new mandates require 100 feet between it and the nearest residential building which wouldn't have worked with the building of the new condominiums. Tahoe Beach Club gave KGID the property on which the new plant resides. This was worked out after TBC and KGID each had different understandings on the exclusive easement allowed the agency on their beach property according to Cameron McKay, General Manager of KGID.

"It was a visual eyesore on the beach," said Castendea of the old KGID building. "Now we both have what we want." The old building will be torn down this spring or early summer.

TRPA gave the TBC its blessing partly because a water treatment system built into the plans will prevent approximately 11,000 pounds of sediment from moving into nearby Burke Creek which ends up in the lake. It will also eliminate 7,720 tons of carbon emissions.

The first phase of TBC will consist of 46 units and a beach club. Castendea said they expect that to be completed by September or October of 2017 if all goes as planned. They have divided the project into three phases.

Final plans for the project includes 13 buildings for the 146 wholly-owned condos (no timeshares or partial ownership), a gate house, the beach club and villas.

Plans have changed from the 2003 plans where the look was more of a lodge/Aspen feel to a more modern look that incorporates nature and the lake.

“Its time for change in Lake Tahoe," said Castendea. "If we have smart development, it will behoove everyone.”

The condominiums will be priced from about $1.3 to $4 million. They cannot be purchased yet, but reservation agreements should be available soon.

"Interest is extremely high," said Castendea. He said they are advertising the project as being on the east shore so buyers can identify more with Nevada because of the low availability of lakefront homes.