Orvis Makes History with Grand County Resort

Orvis Shorefox Resort Features Justin Leonard Signature Golf Course

By Don Berger

The Orvis Shorefox resort is located at the headwaters of the Colorado River, a haven for indigenous trout.

Photos courtesy of Orvis Shorefox

Colorado, the Town of Granby and Grand County are on the cutting edge of resort trends with an agreement between Orvis and Shorefox L.L.C. to create Orvis Shorefox, A Sporting Lifestyle Community just north of downtown Granby.

What makes this resort groundbreaking is that it represents the first time a major sportswear and equipment company has put its name on a resort real estate venture.
The new resort is designed to appeal to discerning individuals who desire the Orvis lifestyle. And what is that, exactly? According to Dave Perkins, vice chairman, retail and sporting traditions, of the Vermont-based company, “It’s something we call ‘distinctive country living’ and it’s inspired by our passion for fly-fishing and our love of the outdoors.”

A RIVER RUNS BY IT
Justin Leonard’s signature golf course takes its cue from the river.

The group behind the Orvis Shorefox resort has brought together an impressive team to create its 18-hole Justin Leonard signature golf course.

Leonard, of course, is a veteran of the PGA Tour, having joined it in 1994. He’s also one of its major money winners (at press time he was ranked eighth in career earnings).

The year 2005 was exceptional for Leonard. He won both the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic in January and the St. Jude Classic in May, joining some select company with Tiger Woods, Vijay Singh, Phil Mickelson and Kenny Perry as multiple winners on the tour that year. In1997, another multiple win year, he took the Kemper Open and the British Open.

Leonard is designing the Shorefox course in conjunction with Tripp Davis and Associates, golf course architects renowned for combining an intimate love and knowledge of the game with the intrinsic qualities of the land to create a game of challenge and strategy for players of all ability levels.

Among Tripp Davis’ many credits are the Craig Stadler signature golf course at Grand Elk Ranch & Club (only a few miles from Orvis Shorefox), The Tribute Club in The Colony, Texas (which recently was ranked the 73rd Best Public Course in the country by Golf Digest), the Cherokee Hills Golf Club in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the Boulder Hills Country Club at Richmond, Rhode Island, and with Charles Howard, the Merced Hills Golf Club in Merced, California.

Davis says the new Orvis Shorefox course currently is in the development design stage, which involves working out the strategy of the course among other aspects. “The routing has been pretty much solidified and now we’re working on individual holes,” notes Davis.
He further explains the Orvis Shorefox course is being designed as a “prairie style” course. The bunkering will be large, a lot more free form, and a lot of the surrounds of the bunkers will just transition,” he says. “There won’t be a hard edge on the bunkers. The greens will also be large, and the golf course itself will be larger in scale.”

Although there are no holes bordering the Colorado River, the river nevertheless dominates the theme of the course. “For example, the bunkers will be designed to have a long, big linear look like a river and craggily edges with grass falling over the edges, similar to bunkers along a river,” says Davis.
He adds Justin Leonard has been very involved with the design development phase of the course (Leonard once told an interviewer that his preferred alternate profession would be have been that of an architect).

Appreciating most of the play will come from resort guests (Orvis Shorefox will also have a club member base), Davis and Leonard have penciled a layout that is challenging, yet friendly.
“Justin is not a powerful player, so he thinks his way around a golf course,” says Davis. “He is putting that skill to good use from a planning standpoint and that is helping us build a course that it is highly strategic and fun to play.”

True to the Tripp Davis philosophy, this golf course is being designed to enhance the beauty of the surroundings and to ensure an abundance of open space. When finished, the course will represent an excellent example of world class golfing in the Rockies. Indeed, the Shorefox Golf course will capture the spirit of both the Rockies and the Orvis lifestyle.

Orvis Shorefox is located on two adjacent yet distinct parcels of land along U.S. Highways 34 and 40 between Granby and Lake Granby. This land once was part of Grand County’s historic Horn Ranch, which still operates as a working ranch adjacent to the Orvis Shorefox site. The site also borders a significant stretch of U.S. Bureau of Land Management land, thus protecting and enhancing the pastoral ambiance of the new community.

The two parcels, divided by the Colorado River, serve two different functions, according to Shorefox principal Jerry Jones. Latchorn, the north parcel, will be primarily residential and the south parcel a master planned resort.

THE RANCHETTES

A private gated community, Latchorn will consist of ranchettes featuring single-family homes on sites ranging from four to 45 acres. The ranchettes will share facilities exclusive to Latchorn.

Current Latchorn plans include a complete equestrian center with a wrangler’s house, barn and an indoor riding arena, stable and pasture for those owners who have horses. The wrangler is, in fact, the concierge of the North Ranch. Residents can call the wrangler for services such as drives to and from airports, Winter Park skiing excursions at the private, slopeside Winter Park Alpine Club, and arranging for a personal chef from the resort’s hotel.

The recreational focus of both the Latchorn community and the resort complex will be fly-fishing, Orvis’ signature sport. For Latchorn owners, there will be a proposed fisherman’s lodge (with restaurant, bar, library and an Orvis Shop) as well as 40 cabins, all of which will be in close proximity to three lakes of varying sizes.

Both residents and club guests can avail themselves to the fishing opportunities, including private lessons by Orvis-trained instructors. Sporting clays and wing- and skeet-shooting are also available.

Latchorn owners automatically become members of the Latchorn Club, with extensive privileges at the resort, located along the south side of the river. The Latchorn community and the resort will be connected by a private bridge over the Colorado River.

THE RESORT

As the resort component, the south property will feature a world-class, 50-room Orvis Hotel & Spa and a 50,000-square-foot commercial center featuring specialty restaurants, shops and high-end boutiques. Additional resort amenities include a 14-acre lake with a lakefront boardwalk, an events island, Orvis fly-fishing and shooting schools, and fly-fishing streams and ponds.

Orvis will manage the sporting facilities and lifestyle operations of the resort. An Orvis Store — similar to the company’s flagship store in Manchester, Vermont — will anchor the commercial center. In addition to serving as a fly-fishing outfitter, the store will carry Orvis’ exclusive line of clothing, luggage and pet accessories.

Latchorn Club members and resort guests also will have privileges at the Orvis Shorefox 18-hole Justin Leonard signature golf course (see sidebar) as well as the ski in/ski out Winter Park Alpine Club with its Great Room, ski storage facilities and lockers.

In addition, members and resort guests will have access to a private marina and beach club along the shores of nearby Lake Granby.

A wide variety of residential real estate options — from cluster homes to condominiums — will be discreetly situated throughout the resort component of Orvis Shorefox. Jones notes the overall range of Orvis Shorefox properties — from the ranchettes at Latchorn to fractionals at the resort — was designed to appeal to a broad spectrum of Orvis consumers.

“Shorefox’s inspiration for this development is the great camps of the Adirondacks and the genteel porch-society and private fishing camps of the early 20th century,” explains Shorefox principal and manager, Steve Bromberg. “Naturally, the partners envisioned a great golf course of the highest quality to merge with the unrivaled physical attributes of the ranch and the Colorado River.”

He believes once in a lifetime in the hospitality and resort development industry one might be lucky enough to find the opportunity to create a world-class development. Shorefox is this truly unique destination that will feature exceptional fly-fishing and recreational amenities.

According to Bromberg, the infrastructure for Orvis Shorefox is already being installed, a process that is expected to take two years. He notes the golf course is expected to be open for play in 2009.

THE ENVIRONMENT

Not surprisingly, a resort that bears the Orvis name realizes an exceptionally high level of environmental responsibility. For Orvis, maintaining the ranching heritage of the land and enhancing the health of the Colorado River are integral to the development of the project.

Bromberg notes that 2 1/4 miles of the upper Colorado runs through the resort. “We have taken measures to protect it and enhance the fishing habitat along that stretch,” he explains, adding that Shorefox L.L.C. has earmarked a substantial sum for this ambitious environmental program.

Among steps already taken is the formation of a foundation dedicated to the preservation of the river and trout habitat of the upper Colorado River Orvis Shorefox is a blueprint for an entirely new way of designing and developing resort communities. The team behind it believes it has great potential for other areas of the country as well. “What we are creating is a resort for people with a passion for the distinctive country lifestyle” says Jerry Jones. “We’ve got all the creature comforts and world-class services you could ever dream of having. At the same time, we are ensuring the integrity of the surrounding landscape and ameliorating the environmental impact of the project.”

Jones, who led the resort’s development team, has a long history in the Colorado mountain resort industry both in and out of Grand County. His extensive resume includes tenures as president of both Beaver Creek Resort and Keystone Resort, executive vice president of the Sun Valley Company, and general manager of Snowmass Resort Company.

According to Jones, among the reasons Granby and Grand County were chosen for Orvis Shorefox was because of the easy access to four scenic mountain lakes, two neighboring ski areas (Sol Vista Basin and Winter Park), the scenic beauty, a multitude of recreational amenities, an excellent public transportation system between Grand County communities, the convenience of Granby’s nearby Amtrak station (a regular stop on the California Zephyr’s Chicago-Denver-San Francisco route) and the Granby and Kremmling airports, as well as the area’s close proximity to Denver and other major Colorado Front Range communities.

In addition, the Orvis Shorefox resort is within a two-hour drive of Denver International Airport.

“Grand County,” adds Bromberg, “offers one of the last great treasures of residential and recreational opportunities in the

Colorado Rockies. And I firmly believe that being removed from the increasingly heavy traffic and development along Colorado’s Interstate 70 corridor is a plus for purchasers seeking a pure mountain resort experience.”
Moreover, Granby serves as the gateway to Rocky Mountain National Park, one of the highest, scenic and most visited of all the nation’s national parks.

There’s little doubt Grand County — with its pristine natural beauty and a multitude of rivers, streams, lakes and creeks — is the perfect setting for the an entirely new concept in resort communities: Orvis Shorefox, A Sporting Lifestyle Community.

Don Berger is editor of Rocky Mountain Golf Magazine, Vail-Beaver Creek Magazine and Colorado Summit Magazine.

This article appears in the Summer/Fall 2006 issue of Rocky Mountain Golf Magazine

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