Timick-in' Good

And the building beat goes on in the Martis Valley just north of Lake Tahoe.

What kind of building? How about another exquisite private mountain golf course; lovely, secluded homes; and a community that speaks of families, outdoor fun and crisp memories. How about a new development called Timilick?

Once the province of hunters, fishermen and railroaders, the Martis Valley is now the address of choice for West Coasters looking to move up in the world — to the rarefied air of 6,000 feet, that is. And with their move comes a style of living that’s tough to match anywhere else in California.

Timilick promises to enhance that singular lifestyle. Its 475 acres of wooded land on Schaffer Mill Road — off Highway 267 near Truckee and Northstar-at-Tahoe and 10 minutes from Interstate 80 — is being transformed into a private golf and mountain community like no other in the area. Originally called Eaglewood, its name was changed to better reflect its historic location; Timilick was the valley’s name in pre-Martis days, so the idea behind this new community is to connect the new with the old and, in the process, create a new dimension of the good life just over the hill from the world’s most famous alpine lake.

“Location is a big factor for us,” says Mark Richardson, president of Martis Valley Associates, Timilick’s developers. “It’s away from the highway, but it’s easily accessible. The views of Northstar and the topography are fantastic. We’ve got a lot of golf in the meadow; and up on the ridge in a more forested area, we’ve got great views of the Carson Range. We have terrific terrain for golf that has a lot of interesting strategic aspects for the game.”

Sculpting Timilick’s 18 holes is California native son and World Golf Hall of Famer Johnny Miller along with John Harbottle II, each known for highly regarded courses in the United States and abroad. They’ve collaborated on several West Coast tracks, including Genoa Lakes’ Resort Course (formerly Sierra Nevada Golf Ranch) in the Carson Valley east of Tahoe. For Timilick, Harbottle is taking the lead with Miller stepping in to put his strategic stamp on the final product. “Harbottle had eight years in the field with Pete Dye, and he knows what he’s doing,” Richardson says. “Just walking the site in the clearing stage, he sculpted it right from the start.”

The 7,000-yard course will have a “links touch,” Harbottle says. “The links courses are the inspiration for our design philosophies. While the Sierra isn’t usually thought of as a links site, we wanted to give the course a very indigenous look like the courses of Scotland and Ireland. They are very natural because they grow out of the existing landscape. At Timilick, the course will look and feel like it’s natural … like it’s always been there.”

And it’s already taking serious shape. “We’ve broken ground on the course,” Richardson says. “We’ll do the majority of work on it next year, sod it for an inaugural round end of 2007 before opening in 2008. This summer we’re grassing 7, 8 and 9 for some visual impact as people drive into the property.” The clubhouse will open in 2009.

As with the golf course, Timilick’s homes will blend as closely as possible into the site’s natural landscape. Nearly 300 acres (about 63 percent of the property) will remain open space. Richardson describes the design idea behind the 406 homes — 218 single-family structures of 1,900 to 2,600 square feet and 188 duplex townhomes called the “Lodges” — as striking a balance of rustic luxury without being too restrictive in look and feel. “These wooded homesites, with views of the golf course, forest, Northstar and the Carson Range, will be sensitively developed to minimize disturbance to the surroundings. There are architectural guidelines within the community. We will offer some pre-approved plans so people can work with our architects on their own so they can get sticks in the air faster.” Featured building materials include rugged timber frames, rustic beams clasped in iron brackets, local stone, arched wood beams and cedar bevel siding.
First-phase move-in (47 single-family lots and 40 townhomes) is slated for the end of this year, with a similar number of homes to come online in each of the following two years. Residents can choose among four single-family floorplans — the Brockway Summit (3 bedrooms with optional den-bedroom, 3½ baths), the Granite Peak (4 bedrooms plus retreat, 4 baths), the Martis Peak (3 bedrooms, 3 baths) and the Sawtooth Ridge (4 bedrooms, 4 baths).

Timilick Club memberships are available to community residents as well folks from surrounding areas. “It’s an upscale golf club in a private community, but you don’t have be a resident to belong,” Richardson says. “That’s another unique aspect to this project. A lot of folks in Homewood or West Lake Tahoe area have access to a private upscale development without living there. It’s truly a golfer’s club.”

Golf, Junior, Sports and Social memberships are available, with golf memberships starting in the mid-$70,000s. Club amenities include a 25,000-square-foot clubhouse including restaurant, bar, grill, swimming pool, spa, fitness facilities, tennis courts, men’s and women’s locker rooms and social and meeting rooms. And every resident will enjoy a fly-casting pond, multi-use courts, a tot lot, picnic and barbecue area, an ice skating rink, two miles of hiking trails and ample space for cross-country skiing, sledding, tubing, snowshoeing and more. An onsite concierge will organize on and offsite recreation, guest accommodations, flyfishing trips, boat and airplane rentals, travel reservations and child care. “We expect to be a ‘full service’ community for both vacation and year-round residents,” Richardson says.

Even with all the modern comforts, Timilick will always cast a careful eye toward the Martis Valley’s colorful and fascinating past. It was the site of a silver boom and bust beginning in 1863. Towns exploded overnight, assay offices sprouted and town lots, according to newspaper reports of the time, “soared to $200” for promised mansions that never came. The mining epidemic peaked and crashed within a few years, replaced by timber harvesting and logging. The first sawmill opened in 1871, supplying lumber to Sacramento and San Francisco. And with the completion of the Columbia Pacific Railroad, tourists added to the landscape, attracted by its natural beauty and hot springs near Lake Tahoe.

But as noted California explorer William Brewer wrote in his journal, the true treasure of Timilick-turned-Martis is its brillian alpine plants, abundant forests and thriving wildlife — and the serenity of a valley that still remains despite its growth into one of the West’s modern-day boomtowns. “This end of Lake Tahoe will eventually be the most desirable spot for persons in pursuit of pleasure,” Brewer wrote more than 140 years ago. At Timilick, those pleasures will take many forms. Golfers are thrilled to know that their favorite pastime is one of them. FG

Timilick

877.846.4542 | www.timilick.com
Phase I:
40 duplex Lodges from the high $900,000s
8 estate properties for custom homes from the high $300,000s
39 homesites from the high $200,000s