Firm To Buy Salish Lodge, Develop Surroundings

The Salish Lodge at Snoqualmie Falls is being sold to a development company that plans to build a convention center and nearby residential communities with some 600 homes, the lodge owner said Tuesday.

Dick Causey, president of Puget Western, said the 91-room luxury hotel and several hundred acres of land around Snoqualmie Falls would be sold to Lowe Enterprises Investment Management Inc. on behalf of a major public pension fund.

Neither Causey nor Lowe officials would comment on the sales price. Causey said a deal could be completed by the end of September.

Lowe Enterprises developed Klahanie, a large residential community on the East Sammamish Plateau, northeast of Issaquah.

Puget Western, the real estate arm of Puget Sound Power & Light Co., remodeled and upgraded the former Snoqualmie Falls Lodge and restaurant about 11 years ago.

The lodge was originally built in 1916 and the rebuilt version gained international exposure as a set for the 1990-91 television series “Twin Peaks.”

Snoqualmie Falls is one of the most popular tourist draws in the area, attracting an estimated 1.5 million visitors a year.

Ron Silva, executive vice president of Lowe Enterprises, said a convention and hotel complex of 40,000 to 60,000 square feet would be built on part of a 55-acre parcel across Washington 202 from the Salish Lodge.

Besides the convention center, 50 to 60 residential lots would be developed on the north end of the site, offering views of Mount Si to the east, Silva said.

Across the Snoqualmie River and above the falls, Lowe Enterprises also plans to revive Falls Crossing, a 240-acre project proposed by Puget Western that was rejected by the city of Snoqualmie earlier this year. It was to have included 590 homes and commercial space.

Silva said he could not disclose what pension fund was investing in the purchase until the deal was concluded.

City officials had expressed concern that too much of the 240-acre parcel would be clear-cut, wanted the number of homes reduced to 550, wanted more rental units and did not want affordable housing consolidated into one area.

Silva said the Falls Crossing project would be redesigned to meet city requirements.

Causey said Puget Western would work closely with Lowe Enterprises and its hospitality subsidiary, Destination Hotels & Resorts in Denver, to refine plans for the entire project.

A Puget Power official said the sale of the lodge and other properties would have no effect on the company’s operations of its Snoqualmie Falls generating plant, which is presently going through a federal relicensing procedure.