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Carrollton is a few hundred miles, a few mountains short and a heat advisory away from the nearest ski resort, but one prospective developer hopes to change that.
For over two years Alpine-X has been in talks with the city to move mountains in West Carrollton. As the current frontrunner for stewardship over Municipal Management District 35E, the company is closer than ever to realizing its vision.
Year-round indoor ski resorts, or snowdomes, have been a popular phenomenon in Europe and parts of Asia for years. The concept has yet to take off in the United States, but John Emery and Jim Calder, former CEO and CFO of Great Wolf Lodge, are looking make that change.
For the last decade they have worked to bring indoor skiing stateside, and Texas is a top target on their list. Ambitious plans to bring Alpine-X resorts to Dallas and Austin by 2026 were put on ice, but after years of pitching, the duo feels confident they finally found the right partner in Carrollton.
At the July 21 Carrollton City Council Study Session, Mayor Steve Babick said the desire for the district came about during community vision discussions. Inspired by entertainment destinations like Grandscape in The Colony, Carrollton City Council hopes to bring entertainment, jobs and tax revenue to the intersection of Interstate 35 and the President George Bush Turnpike. Located across from the Trinity Mills Rail Station, the city proposed a special use district that might deliver the coolest, or coldest, experience in the Metroplex.
Emery and Calder hope to turn 70 of the existing 121 acres of green space into a 750,000 square foot resort space, with a 350,000 square foot snow area, flanked by retail, multifamily housing and a proposed event center.
Developers said the snow will be machine made but is indistinguishable from the real deal. Once inside the snowdome, visitors can hit the slopes, build snowmen or engage in a variety of other wintry activities.
Though the company has yet to open a resort to date, it promises to deliver 365 days of fun at the slopes for a more affordable price than traditional outdoor venues.
"What we're proposing here is a blended entertainment experience where if you're relatively local, you're going to come out, you're going to ski for two or three hours," Emery said. "[It's] super super affordable. You come Tuesday or Wednesday after school or after work.
"It's the democratization of snow sports, but the same thing applies for the whole district. You can design things that are really created to bring a community together."
After successfully bringing indoor skiing to Egypt, Alpine-X resort designer Tom Scheffer thinks Texas should be a cake walk. He has already begun working with engineering firm Kimley-Horn to sort the site's easements and flood plains.
He said the resort will be built with the "old cities in Europe" in mind. Scheffer promises a walkable, livable, tourist destination unlike anything the city has ever seen. With about 200 similar resorts currently operating around the globe, he said the project is perfectly feasible.
"Imagine Carrollton is the only place in the DFW area where you can have a white Christmas and then when you come out of the resort after you had your white Christmas and you walk into one of these European Christmas markets," Scheffer said
Scheffer predicts the project is in a prime location to cater to incoming tourists. District 35E would be located roughly 20 minutes from both DFW International Airport and Dallas Love Field. He expects the resort to include a hotel with at least 300 rooms. Developers said the project would provide a variety of permanent jobs in the hospitality industry.
Along with providing increased revenues and attention, Scheffer said the facility could also act as an anchor for the community.
"The school district can have competitions," he said. "Imagine beating Frisco in skiing. Imagine being able to have your local teams, moms and dads that today sit at some field yelling at their kids to play soccer; they could be yelling at our place to do better at Slalom skiing.
"The school district can have their high school graduation parties. You all can have town halls if you feel like that."
Alpine-X would ultimately be responsible for the resort's operations and upkeep. The city would be responsible for providing fire and police services.
Once construction starts, the resort itself would take three and a half years to build. The overall project would be completed in multiple phases over the course of many years with contributions from Alpine-X, Provident Realty Advisors and other developers for the surrounding retail and residential spaces.
The company will also partner with a company called Share Winter Foundation that brings in kids from areas that traditionally don't have access to snow.
"We're building where people live, we'll have tens of thousands of free visits for kids and families and underrepresented groups locally because we have the capacity," Emery said. "We don't need every nickel that we can get for every time somebody visits. The building is going to be there every day all year. So, it allows us to really create this great community."
Alpine-X isn't the first group to try and bring snowdomes to North Texas. In 2009, the proposed Texas Alps project in Grapevine was canceled after developers filed for bankruptcy. Grand Prairie's $215 million Grand Alps Ski Resort also failed to launch after developers and the city could not reach agreements on site costs and conditions in 2015.
Whether or not Alpine-X ever makes it off the bunny slope is still to be determined, but Carrollton councilmembers remain sanguine about the prospect.
"I'm super excited for something like this to come to Carrollton," Mayor Pro Tem Daisy Palomo said. "I just can't wait to see it get started and get it off the ground."
Councilman Christopher Axberg is dreaming of a white Christmas in July. He compared promotional videos for the project to a genuine alpine holiday experience with cozy campfires, hot cocoa and winter merriment to spare.
"I just can't imagine it being 107 degrees [Fahrenheit] out here in Texas and then sitting in a 32, or even less, I think 30-degree environment where you have a parka on in the middle of the summer in Texas.
"We've come a long way since we had our first committee meeting, as far as where we started and where we are now," Axberg said.
At their most recent July meeting, the council's consensus was to continue their work and planning with Alpine-X. While the end project may still be many peaks and valleys away, leadership on both sides seem committed to carry their partnership to the end.
"We are long-term partners with Carrollton, period," Emery said. "If this gets developed, we are with you guys for literally decades."
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