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BUDGET, VALUE FRIENDLY Brown and Harmon are not alone in their analysis. Katy Black is a managing director and leader of the Mountain West Consulting & Valuation practice at HVS. She notes that on a price-per-square-foot basis, the gap between Waldorf Astoria Texas Hill Country and Four Seasons Deer Valley, as example, is significant, with Four Seasons Deer Valley priced at roughly three times what the Waldorf Astoria Texas Hill Country is asking.“ Put another way, the same budget buys a modestly sized ski-in / ski-out condo in Deer Valley or a substantially larger, furnished multi-bedroom home in Fredericksburg,” she said.
Some of the difference comes from product type rather than geography alone. Deer Valley is a high-rise, podium-style mountain
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build with heavy amenity and infrastructure costs, while the Waldorf Astoria is a low-rise, horizontal resort spread across a large site. Mountain development also carries costs that are easy to overlook, including a shortened construction season, higher labor and logistics costs, and an entitlement process tied to a much larger masterplanned village, all of which extend timelines and add carry, Black said. Meanwhile, the development of Waldorf Astoria Texas Hill Country essentially allows for yearround construction due to climate and weather, and while a spread-out resort carries its own infrastructure and site costs,“ the overall cost structure is meaningfully lighter,” Black continued.“ Ultimately, buyers are paying for very different things: Deer Valley prices in established ski-resort land |
A villa bedroom rendering. Villas are eligible to participate in a hotel rental program as 74 additional keys.
value and scarcity, while Fredericksburg offers space and value in an emerging winecountry market still building its luxury track record.”
A villa bathroom rendering at Waldorf Astoria Texas Hill Country.
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WHAT THE NUMBERS REVEAL Waldorf Astoria Texas Hill Country is a story of discovery: a first-of-its-kind luxury resort being developed in an up-andcoming luxury destination, a test case proving the viability of an area being dubbed the next Napa Valley. Unlike Deer Valley, it’ s not a mature luxury destination, yet, and its pricing is evidence.
For developers, the central lesson is that branded residential is not one uniform business model. Fredericksburg is selling a spacious, turnkey Texas retreat and the brand provides a common promise of luxury. The real estate underneath that promise— and the market’ s willingness to pay for it— is what ultimately shapes the economics.
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