Employee dorm included in Quechee Club renovations

QUECHEE, Vt. (WCAX) - A multi-million construction project has gotten the green light at the Quechee Club, an upscale homeowners association in the Upper Valley. But the renovations are not taking place all at once and the improvements are not just to benefit club members.

“We’ve seen a younger demographic coming in, lots of kids and children, so we’ve got to be able to react to that,” said Brian Kelley, the Quechee Club’s general manager

This means major improvements to the beach house, recreation camp, and racquet programs. However, the new base lodge at the ski hill, which is open to the public, is being delayed a bit.

“We decided to divide the master plan into two phases mainly because we were struggling to find staff,” Kelley said. Because of that, he says phase one will also include 16 rooms of employee housing. “We’ve been trying to partner with our local homeowners to rent their places, but we are finding difficulty finding six-month leases and year-round leases, and so to be able to handle that, we are just going to build our own dorm room.”

The project is welcome news for local businesses. “There is no doubt that’s a big part of this community,” said Richard Stancliff at Jake’s Market, just down the road. He says they are also struggling with both finding employees and places for them to live. “There’s not a lot to pull from and there is not a lot of housing opportunities in the area to bring people in.”

The Quechee Club includes 1,400 homeowners. The two pristine golf courses are a big draw for many of the residents. Gonzalo Franceschi bought a property over 30 years ago. “We had my daughter and she enjoyed everything in here and I enjoyed the snow, and the facilities and the tennis and everything,” said Franceschi.

Construction is expected to begin this fall.

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