Comfort Level

R.D. Olson tackles sixth phase of Marriott's Palm Desert timeshare development.

By Joe Florkowski

An Irvine-based general contractor has nearly finished construction on the $11 million sixth phase of a vacation resort property that seeks to improve upon traditional timeshare properties.

R.D. Olson Construction has finished more than 60 percent of Marriott's Shadow Ridge Phase VI in Palm Desert. Olson expects to finish the 46 units in the sixth phase by late fall.

R.D. Olson did not build the first two phases of Shadow Ridge, but, including phase VI, has built the last four.

Although the buildings are residential units, the project is not as simple as an apartment complex or traditional hotel, said Ian Gardiner, executive vice president for R.D. Olson.

The buildings use a lot of steel to compensate for using a lot of glass windows and sliding doors, he said. Views of the surrounding mountains are important to Marriott and its guests, Gardiner said.

And because guests stay a week in each unit, Olson installs more sophisticated heating, air conditioning and plumbing systems.

Marriott wants its guests to feel comfortable in the week they stay in the unit, Gardiner said.

"They're more concerned about guest comfort," Gardiner said. "They want a product that is going to last."

Marriott Vacation Club International has planned 972 units for the entire Shadow Ridge development, said Ed Kinney, vice president of corporate affairs for Marriott Vacation Club International.

More than 300 are already built with the first phase occupied in 2001.

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The concept of Shadow Ridge is to give vacationers a high-end timeshare property. Each unit features two bedrooms and two baths along with a kitchen and living room.

Vacationers pay a one-time fee to stay for one week a year annually.

"You're buying a lifetime of vacations in advance," Kinney said.

Marriott has no timeline for the completion of all 972 units in Shadow Ridge, but a 10-year selling period was planned, Kinney said.

San Francisco-based MBH Architects did the design for the initial phases of Shadow Ridge.

Shadow Ridge uses a lot of Spanish-style architecture, including tiled roofs, modeled after similar architecture in nearby Palm Springs.

One of the keys to designing Shadow Ridge was the landscape architecture, said Lalaine Tanaka, design director in MBH's Newport Beach office. The landscape architect that initially designed the early phases used a lot of native plants that would survive in the desert, she said.

Trying to find the right scale when designing the units in Shadow Ridge was also important, Tanaka said.

For example, figuring out the size and scale of a kitchen that is only going to be used for a week was important, she said.

"That space you're not going to need you allocate into the living space," she said.

MBH looked at everything from the design of the curtains to the size of the furniture when designing Shadow Ridge, Tanaka said. Smaller furniture was used in some cases, she said.

"It gives you the illusion of size and space," she said.

Creating that space is important because each unit averages between 1,100 and 1,200 sq. ft. and since vacationers will stay a week, it needs to give the feel of open space, Tanaka said.

"It needs to be functional, but it needs to be inviting," she said. "It needs to make you feel like you're vacationing."

Though timeshares traditionally evoke a negative connotation, the Marriott Shadow Ridge projects are trying to rise above it, she said.

"Good design helps," she said.