OGDEN — The proposed Nordic Valley development plans call for converting the Weber County ski resort into a year-round attraction, with some infrastructure work potentially starting next year.
A budget proposal submitted to Weber County as part the developers’ efforts to harness tax funds outlines $120.87 million in proposed infrastructure upgrades, including road improvements, a sewage treatment plant, water lines and more ski lifts. Some of that would be covered by a portion of the $48.02 million in proposed tax-increment financing, property taxes generated by new development.
The plans — which most notably call for the development of a ski village near the base of the resort with hundreds of housing units and hotel rooms — have been in the works since around 2021. More details are now emerging as actual work looms and developers seek assistance in the initiative via public financing tools from Weber County officials.
“We are hopeful that some infrastructure work will begin in 2025. It is anticipated that the project will take 10-15 years to complete,” Rob Behunin, senior director of project strategy with Orem-based Clyde Capital Group, said in an email to KSL.com. Clyde manages Nordic Valley Venture, owner of the Nordic Valley property, which covers 512 acres and sits near Eden in the Ogden Valley.
The $120.87 million price tag for infrastructure upgrades doesn’t include the estimated cost of developing the proposed condominiums, chalets, hotel rooms, commercial space or housing units for workers. Behunin wouldn’t divulge a number, citing “business confidentiality,” but said the investment funds would come from the private sector.
Nordic Valley is the smallest of three ski resorts in Weber County. The planned development initiative comes as nearby Powder Mountain pursues its own privately financed expansion and redevelopment initiative, spearheaded by majority owner and Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings. Snowbasin, the third ski resort in Weber County, has also been mulling expansion, though plans for a proposed Club Med hotel on resort grounds fizzled last year.
‘I learned to ski at Nordic’
In late November, Weber County commissioners approved creation of three public infrastructure districts serving Nordic Valley that have taxation authority to help raise funds for infrastructure work for the resort expansion. The plans took another step forward Wednesday when Weber School District officials approved an agreement with Weber County allowing $27 million in property tax funds to be generated by future Nordic Valley development to be used to help cover public infrastructure development. The $27 million is part of the $48.02 million in all in future property tax funds — tax-increment financing — that developers seek over a 15-year span.
Weber Basin Water Conservancy District officials have also approved an agreement allowing around $965,000 in future property tax funds to be used for infrastructure improvements. Similar accords will be sought with Weber County and Weber Fire District. “Discussions with other potential participating districts are ongoing,” said Stephanie Russell, the Weber County economic development director.
An estimated $16.57 million in tax-increment financing would be used along with $24.36 million in funds generated through the three new public infrastructure districts to help pay for the $120.87 million in infrastructure improvements. The public infrastructure district funds would come from a property tax levied on the Nordic Valley property. Project developers plan to secure another $79.94 million in private financing to round out the funding, according to the public infrastructure budget document supplied by Weber County.
Financing details aside, Clyde Capital envisions a “resort-oriented development … with single and multifamily dwelling units, hotel rooms, commercial space and resort amenities,” reads the budget document.
Behunin noted Nordic Valley’s reputation as a place for newbies to learn how to ski and said developers don’t plan to stray from that. The resort “has been a long-standing family-friendly ski resort for the local community and for Utah. It is amazing how many people tell us, ‘I learned to ski at Nordic.’ We want to continue that tradition, and we know there will be interest from people beyond Utah as well,” Behunin said.
Long-term plans call for 428 condominiums, 159 chalets, 230 hotel rooms and commercial space clustered around the base of the resort off Nordic Valley Way. Nordic Village, as it’s called, is meant to be “a family-centered, distinct, year-round resort” that pumps millions of dollars into the area economy.
However, public financing tools — tax-increment financing and the public infrastructure districts — are key to the plans. Without them, the budget document says, the developer “would then be forced to adjust, postpone or even cancel the development plans.”
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