Midway • An iconic Utah bucket-list item is getting a major upgrade – including a chance to own luxury real estate.

Generations of Utahns have made memories at the once-rustic Homestead Resort, but they may be surprised when they visit next.

“If you are visiting the new Homestead, you aren’t going to recognize this place,” said Maverick Bolger, who’s been involved in a yearslong process to revamp the resort.

Bolger, the listing agent with Utah Luxury Group for the Autograph Collection residences, said the 68 units for sale might feel expensive to some for Midway, but $1 million to $1.7 million is significantly less expensive than similar properties elsewhere in the Wasatch Back.

That sum also comes with a membership at a semi-private golf club and access to all the resort’s amenities, from the 10,000-year-old hot springs crater and the six pools it feeds – all kept at different temperatures and adjusted according to the day’s weather – to a yet-to-be-completed activity center.

Bolger said he “geeked out” over the homes’ construction, which includes custom millwork and a “beefy” screen door leading to the patio off the living room and primary bedroom.

At $1,000 per square foot, they’re “a little more approachable,” he said, but still have all the aspects of luxury.

The homes are a new feature of the resort, which has been open in some form or another since the late 1800s, featured in movies and is now in the middle of a complete overhaul.

“Folks who have been coming to see the new Homestead are blown away,” Bolger said. “The quality of the work that’s been done here is pretty next level.”

‘Back to the history’

It’ll be “a different animal” once construction is done in 2027, Bolger said, and the property shifts to become a Marriott-branded resort. The homes already have the chain’s premium Autograph Collection Residences branding.

The golf course is also getting a major overhaul, but the routing is “pretty similar,” and the holes are in the same place, said Nick Arthurs, the resort’s head golf professional.

But everything is getting reshaped, regraded and rebuilt, he said, and they’ve removed a lot of cottonwood trees that were blocking views and playable space.

“There’s not a stone that’s unturned here,” Arthurs added.

And the iconic crater will get its own version of upgrades, like a new entryway from the eventual activity center and changing rooms that aren’t in the stone tunnel.

But some things will feel familiar even after all the changes, like the Virginia House that’s on the National Register of Historic Places, the crater itself and the homage to the original owner’s Swiss heritage.

There will be a lot of nuances to the resort’s history, said Niels Vuijsters, the managing director who also helped launch Asher Adams in downtown Salt Lake City. He pointed to the Milk House, a grab-and-go breakfast and coffee spot whose name is a nod to the building’s original use.

“We’re not trying to build all of these new buildings and just create something out of nothing,” Vuijsters said. “It’s really tying it back to the history of the property.”

Virginia House, now a temporary check-in spot and sales office, will host a museum, he said, and the resort will continue making homemade fudge in the Milk House.

The resort’s amenities, both upgraded and newly built, will be accessible to owners, people who get a social or full membership and hotel guests, with the idea that it’s all-inclusive and can offer people a different experience each day.

“It’s not just a hotel sitting next to a mountain,” Vuijsters said. “It just offers so many different, unique factors.”