You Can Buy a Vacation Home Using Bitcoin at This New Luxe Resort in Utah

A development near Park City is targeting millennial buyers by offering turnkey prefabs that start around $1,000,000—or the crypto equivalent.

Jul 9, 2021 - 19:17

A development near Park City is targeting millennial buyers by offering turnkey prefabs that start around $1,000,000—or the crypto equivalent.

Jamie Mackay has an affinity for the retreat lifestyle. Back in 2006, the entrepreneur founded Wheelhaus, a tiny home design-build company, and soon after created Fireside Resort—a community of tiny homes, campsites, luxury hotel suites, and private cabins in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

His latest venture is Benloch Ranch, a scaled-up resort community featuring sleek prefabs set on 2,550 acres in the hinterlands of Park City. The destination development is enticing buyers—specifically the millennial set—with luxury amenities, year-round outdoor activities, and goods, services, and real estate price tags listed in both dollars and Bitcoin.

There are four different prefab models on offer at Benloch Ranch, each described as "mountain modern." Interested buyers can also design something custom. The designs range from the 1,572-square-foot Helix model, which starts at $1,049,000, to the 2,885-square-foot Stack model, which starts at $1,249,000. The Icon model, pictured here, is a 2,650-square-foot, three-bedroom, three-bathroom family home that is available in both gable-roofed and wedge-roofed variations and has a base price of $1,349,000.

Photo courtesy Benloch Ranch

"Bitcoin has become mainstream with companies like Tesla, Whole Foods, Paypal, and Starbucks, so why not Benloch Ranch?" asks Mackay. "I use Bitcoin, and our target audience is a younger, tech-savvy crowd who understands crypto and likely invests in it."

As Mackay points out, Bitcoin and a development like Benloch Ranch are a perfect match. With more than five million users globally, Bitcoin is the world’s most popular cryptocurrency—and more than 50% of its investors are millennials. According to the National Association of Realtors, millennials also currently make up the largest share of homebuyers, accounting for 37% of purchases.

Benloch Ranch rests on a plateau with expansive views of the Jordanelle Reservoir. The site also boasts over 30 miles of groomed trails for mountain biking, hiking, cross-country skiing, and ATV-ing.
Photo by Dirk Collins

Mackay’s initial plan was to recreate the formula of his Fireside Resort. But when he first visited the land in 2018 where the new community is being built, he was inspired to create something altogether different. "I fell in love with the topography and the location for so many reasons," he recalls. "There are canyons, groves of aspen, and so much water. The Fireside Cabins have been fantastically successful, so I thought, ‘Why don’t we take that model and put it on steroids?’ Instead of 400- or 500-square-foot cabins, let’s build 2,000- to 4,000-square-foot homes."

Nine hundred acres of the development are being set aside for residences, all of which are Scandinavian-inspired designs by prefab builder Vurtical—yet another of Mackay’s ventures. Rather than the tiny footprint of the Wheelhaus homes, however, the designs found near Park City start at 1,572 square feet for around $1,000,000—modest in size, and price, when compared to the McMansions the area is known for.