Beloved Central Oregon getaway Kah-Nee-Ta Resort & Spa is set to close down next Wednesday, Sept. 5. That means no more hotel rooms, RV sites, spa, teepee camping or Olympic-size hot springs swimming pool.
Whether that closure is permanent or temporary, however, remains to be seen.
First reported in July after the resort filed a federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification notice, the financially driven closure appears all but imminent. The resort's website features details of the closure, including projected final night of accommodations set for Tuesday, Sept. 4.
"After September 5th, all outlets at Kah-Nee-Ta Resort & Spa will be unavailable," the site reads. In addition, the site's reservation page shows no rooms available after Sept. 5.
The WARN notice, filed July 6, noted that all 146 of the resort's employees would be laid off starting Sept. 5.
But according to a source with the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, which owns the resort, the Tribal Council met yesterday and is meeting again this afternoon to see if there's any way to arrange funding to keep the resort open for an extended period of time. A plan of action could emerge from that meeting later today or tomorrow.
A message left with Michele Stacona, secretary-treasurer/CEO of the CTWS, was not returned by the Business Journal's publication deadline.
The tribes' efforts to keep Kah-Nee-Ta afloat are just one way the resort, which sits on tribal land about two hours from Portland, may find itself hanging on for another day.
AV Northwest, a management and investment team that partnered with the tribes to run the resort in February, has been working to find an investor to come on board.
According to Spilyay Tymoo, the tribal newsletter, those efforts were still underway as of mid-July.
AV Northwest is the Oregon entity of Florida-based Accent Ventures, a consulting firm headed by Tom Hansen. An email sent to the Accent website was not immediately returned, and a phone number on the firm's website went to an automated marketing and survey message.
According to a tribal newsletter from last fall, AV Northwest had planned to invest $17 million in the resort to bring it back up to par. The company was set to sign a 25-year lease with the tribes to run the resort. It's not clear if that lease was ever signed or if any investments were made.
In July, Hansen told news outlet KOIN that he was trying to secure $2 million in bridge financing to prevent the resort from closing. He also said he hoped to sign a long-term lease with the resort and invest $16 million for upgrades.
At the time of the KOIN article, the financing had yet to be secured.
Stefanie Siebold is director of programs for the East Cascades Workforce Board, one of nine local workforce investment boards in the state and the one that's worked with Kah-Nee-Ta in advance of the announced layoffs. She said it's been somewhat unclear what the tribes' plans are, other than that negotiations have been ongoing with potential investors.
"There's been a little bit of back and forth on whether there was really going to be a closure or not," Siebold said. "We have heard that they are negotiating with their business partner, but we have not heard the results of that. We are ready to help out as soon as we know for sure if they are going to close or not."
The CTWS originally bought the hot springs and the surrounding property in 1959 using funds from a settlement with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers due to the loss of Celilo Falls on the Columbia River.
The first Kah-Nee-Ta resort facilities were up and running on the property by the mid 1960s; several expansions and additions have been added in the decades since.
More recently, the resort has been hit with financial struggles, particularly after the tribe moved its casino from a location at the resort to one 12 miles away directly on Highway 26.
The Portland Business Journal is a KGW News partner.