Some small business owners are without affordable alternatives as two proposed hotels in downtown Jackson threaten displacement. Those include a Utah developer’s block-sized project and a much smaller offering from the family that owns Hotel Jackson.
Jackson’s volunteer Design Review Committee advanced plans for the Darwiche family’s 20-room Glenwood Hotel last week.
It would be built on a mostly vacant lot framed by the Anvil Hotel where Christopher Koch used to hitch his horses. At age 78, the so-called “Cowboy Chiropractor” says he’s ready to retire.
About 10 years ago, he sold the cabin he’s lived and worked out of since the 1970s, expecting that the new owners would build “something big.” But he acknowledges that affordable space for small businesses is hard to come by.
“Most people moved here to come to a peaceful, quiet little town,” Koch said. “And that’s all changed.”
In the same neighborhood, a frame shop, hairdresser and hatter were kicked out this summer to make way for Utah-based Mogul Capital, which is planning a complex for 82 hotel rooms and 31 market-rate condo-style homes. CEO Brad Wagstaff said they needed the buildings vacant to start environmental testing.
But he also thinks there may be a way for the previous tenants to come back.
“We’ve talked with multiple small businesses, including some that are currently operating, about returning once we get the project developed,” Wagstaff told KHOL. “[We’re] excited to bring them back.”
It’s not clear, though, how many can. Full Circle Frameworks owner Rocky Vertone said he already moved the business to his garage in Victor, Idaho. Alternatives in Jackson – where commercial rent is north of $4 per square foot per month – were too expensive.
Christy Sing Robertson, the founder and owner of Sing Hat Company, said she received a short-term extension on her lease while she prepares to move into a place half the size. “I’m definitely keeping my options open,” Robertson said.
Both hotel projects scaled back the number of rooms to allow for more first-floor commercial space, following requests from town leaders. At the Glenwood Hotel, what was planned as a guest-only cafe is now slated to be a public restaurant.
“If anything, we’re more in line with the direction that the town council is going today, or wants to go in the future, than where we were,” said Sadek Darwiche.
The town granted him more development space in exchange for preserving the historic Ellen Walker cabin on Pearl Avenue and King Street. There are currently no plans to save the 1923 cabin that Koch calls home.
Local electeds have limited ability to preserve such nonresidential inventory, Jackson Mayor Arne Jorgensen said. Keeping affordable space for small businesses is even harder than keeping homes cheap, he said.
“When you’re dealing with a privately owned business in a capitalist society, the tools just are not there,” he said. “It’s a difficult task.”
Jorgensen said he was pleasantly surprised to hear that some of Mogul’s tenants would be invited back. While it may not maximize profits, the mayor said allocating affordable first-floor space for small businesses is a way to “present public benefit to the town of Jackson.”
Both hotels will go back to planning and town council after the design review.
Koch, the chiropractor, said the town has “certainly benefitted in some ways” from outside money. But he wants elected officials to do more for small business preservation.
“I think they’re only interested in growth and more money,” he said of local leaders, “and I’m not entirely sure why, because we were doing just fine years ago.”
Finding a good place to run a business has always been difficult in Jackson, Koch added. When he moved here in 1972, Koch said, “there just wasn’t much available.”
Some of the developers are aware of the risks of unfettered growth. While Mogul Capital had to build homes across town to offset the employee influx of its new hotel, the Darwiches describe their project as a “boutique” project that benefits the town.
“At the end of the day, I think the thing that keeps Jackson Hole unique is our diverse, independent, retail stores,” Sadek Darwiche said, pointing to stalwarts such as Skinny Skis, Hide Out Leather, A Touch of Class, and MADE.
“Otherwise, we could be ‘Ski town anywhere, USA,’” he said.
