On the last day of August in 2019, MJD Capital Partners announced its acquisition of the Boatworks Mall in Tahoe City. The previous year, the property management company had purchased the Tahoe City Inn — now rebranded as The Inn at Boatworks, adjacent to the mall. MJD made a promise upon purchase of the shopping plaza and inn that prior to any development, thorough community outreach would be performed. So … what’s the latest with the mall, now Boatworks at Tahoe? That’s what the community wants to know.
~ AH
What’s going on with Boatworks Mall in Tahoe City?
Boatworks at Tahoe acquired the Boatworks Mall and the Inn at Boatworks (built in 1978 and 1958 respectively) three years ago and four years ago. Boatworks at Tahoe ownership group is a consortium of local and regional investors. We immediately completed a million-dollar renovation of the inn, including Tahoe City’s first wall mural on the western facing wall.
Our group has been laser-focused on increasing (mostly local) tenant occupancy at the mall, which now includes new tenants like the Tahoe Wine Collective wine bar, The Lucky Horseshoe clothing, The Cass Clutch leather products, Mirada Tacos & Tequila, and Cruisers Academy sailing school.
We have partnered with local nonprofits such as the Tahoe Fund art installation “Sledflakes,” Sierra Watershed Education Partnerships’ student-art-as-advocacy project, Below the Blue Trash art exhibit, North Tahoe Booster Club’s fundraiser Elegant Affair, and the Sierra State Parks Foundation’s Earth Day Art Contest.
We provide gratis space to Clean Up the Lake as a base for its North Shore operations and have collaborated with The League to Save Lake Tahoe by forming the Boatworks Blue Crew, which works in conjunction with the Tahoe Yacht Club Blue Crew. All events and exhibits are located at the Boatworks Mall.
In June 2021, we submitted a mixed-use redevelopment application to Placer County and to the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency for approval to redevelop the approximately 4-acre site. We have spent over two and a half years since the acquisition surveying and designing the site before filing the application to update and improve the lakefront property through infill redevelopment.
The proposal, in conformance with the 2017 Placer County/TRPA Tahoe Basin Area Plan, includes an 80- to 85-unit lakefront hotel with conference facilities and associated amenities, 31 residential condominium units branded with the hotel, and 8,000 square feet of commercial retail space along North Lake Boulevard/State Highway 28. The plan is a mixed-use enhancement of existing uses within Tahoe City’s mixed-use town center and commercial core overlay area. Pursuant to the California Environmental Quality Act, the Boatworks proposal will undergo substantial environmental review over the next 18 to 24 months before it is eligible to secure final approvals from Placer County and the TRPA.
The future plans as laid out are inclusive for the entire assemblage of parcels that we own.
When we bought these properties, we promised we wouldn’t move one inch forward until we had consulted with our neighbors, area business interests, and concerned citizens, and certainly not until we felt we could meet the strict redevelopment requirements of Placer County and the TRPA. I’m confident we have incorporated much of the community’s input into our plan, which is reflective of the careful attention we have paid to the sensitive eco-enviro balance established in Tahoe City, and we are poised to meet and exceed the rigorous environmental standards associated with a project of this significance. Nearly three years after buying the Boatworks property, we are moving forward guided by what we’ve learned and by what is required of us to protect and enhance Lake Tahoe.
~ Marie Murphy, founder and CEO of MJD Capital Partners
