US /

Developers Build Mountain Town Inspired by ... Sundance?

Bought entire mountain for rumored $40M
By Ruth Brown,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 23, 2013 4:24 PM CDT
Developers Build Mountain Town Inspired by ... Sundance?
Utah mountains.   (Shutterstock)

With financial backing from the likes of the founders of PayPal and Wired magazine, a group of conference organizers have purchased an entire mountain in Utah, where they plan to build a whole town from scratch—one they say will be "inspired by the core concepts of the Sundance Film Festival and the Aspen Institute," reports NPR. "You can build place around a shared ethos," says a co-founder of the Summit group, which reportedly paid $40 million for the 10,000-acre Powder Mountain. "We look to build the coolest little mountain town in the world."

Summit has been running a start-up entrepreneur conference for five years, with previous events pairing speakers like Bill Clinton and Richard Branson with adventures like kayaking off waterfalls and shark tagging with scientists. The idea with Powder Mountain is to do that 365 days a year. Like-minded business types will buy plots of land (rumored to have gone for $1 million each) and build a house, then get access to events like conferences and concerts (plus all the skiing and hiking they can handle), Forbes reported last year. But the locals who already live in the area aren't so impressed by the idea. "They're scared of it being Aspen or Vail and getting priced out of this unique rural environment," the mayor of a nearby town tells NPR. (More Utah stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X