Legacy Lodge changes hands, now what?

JACKSON HOLE, Wyo. — The Darwiche family, owners of Hotel Jackson and several local businesses, are exploring an opportunity to turn the former Legacy Lodge property into workforce housing.

Legacy Lodge opened in 1998 as a private assisted living facility, but closed this past spring due to financial difficulties and a large number of vacancies directly related to the COVID pandemic.

“We were sad to see the lodge close,” said Hotel Jackson general manager Sadek Darwiche.

His father, Jim, went farther than that.

“I was angry. I got mad,” Jim Darwiche said. “That our community could not support something that served our seniors is frustrating. It all stems from high prices and how expensive it is to live here.”

The Darwiches said they contacted the owner of Legacy Lodge fairly quickly because they knew deep pocket real estate companies would be salivating over the property. Sadek and Jim wanted control over the next chapter of the Legacy Lodge property in Rafter J even before they had any idea what they might want to do with it. They just knew they had to protect it.

“What’s happening is these real estate companies are coming to town flipping properties. They don’t care about anything but making lots of money and moving on,” Jim Darwiche said. “We took a chance here without knowing what it is we wanted to do with it. We talked about it within the family and asked ourselves, ‘Are we willing to move in and live here if things don’t work out?’ We all said yes because we are committed. We see value in it beyond dollars. We something special here for the community. And we want to protect it.”

In addition to 55 apartments, the lodge has a commercial kitchen and is near public transit and pathways.

“It is very rare to find a 5-acre piece of property already zoned commercial-residential with a functional building in place. It would be almost impossible to replicate this today with building costs, and the arduous planning and building process,” Sadek Darwiche said. “We saw an opportunity to have that property continue to serve the public in a beneficial way. Our vision for it right now is to find a way to convert it into year-round housing for our local workforce.”

The plan is to explore partnerships with local employers who have the greatest need to house employees. They would, in essence, become landlords over their own units.

Typically, it takes years to put multi-unit housing on the ground. Sadek Darwiche says, with community support, 55 units could be available within a week.

“If we are unable to move forward with housing then we will pivot to something else,” Sadek Darwiche added. “But our family is committed to ensuring the property be used for community benefit.”