By Brett Fisher
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Photo courtesy Keith Shellhamer. Jessica Meligan, 26, uses the new chair lift to enjoy the mineral pool. -
Door from the pool deck into the new men’s changing room. -
The new Shoe Tree Brewery currently under construction. -
Photo courtesy Keith Shellhamer. Interior of a dry sauna. -
Men’s and women’s dry saunas. -
Keith Shellhamer on the pool deck next to the chair lift.
A sign at the front entrance to Carson Hot Springs Resort notifies customers of construction noise, but that doesn’t seem to bother patrons of the mineral pools, Resort Manager Keith Shellhamer said.
“There’s really been very little problems with that. Everyon has been understanding and appreciative of the work going on,” Shellhamer said. “Everyone seems to agree that putting up with a little noise is well worth it to enjoy the springs during construction.”
Construction at the pool is adding another 1,000 square feet to the facility, a project that is part of a larger property improvement plan, Shellhamer said.
The first phase of the plan includes additions to the pool facility as well as the new structure for Shoe Tree Brewing Company adjacent to Sassafras, he said.
“Altogether that’s about $400,000 in construction costs,” Shellhamer said, noting a price tag of around $225,000 for the brewery and $175,000 to expand the pool area.
Construction of those two projects began in earnest around May 1, Shellhamer said, with estimated completion in mid-September.
The Shoe Tree Brewing Company, owned by brothers Jeff and Paul Young, will occupy more than 1,800 square feet next door and to the west of the building occupied by Sassafras, featuring a production brewery and retail space.
Improvements to the pool facility include a new men’s changing room, an expanded women’s changing room, as well as a unisex handicapped changing room, all with direct access to the pool area, Shellhamer said.
The new men’s room will be accessed from the very northeast corner of the main mineral springs pool, he said, while the remodeled women’s changing room will be larger, encompassing the current men’s area.
A new handicapped chair lift was recently purchased, too, for the benefit of patrons with mobility limitations, he said.
“The remodel is going to be much more handicapped-friendly,” Shellhamer said. “We have a lot of people come in here who can barely get from the car to inside. We want to get them in that pool.”
Another new feature — separate from the remodel project — recently completed in the pool facility just in the past few months are men’s and women’s dry saunas, he said.
Use of the new saunas is included in the cost of admission to the pool, he said.
Shellhamer said a remodel of the pool facility has been long overdue. The building’s last upgrades were made in the 1960s, he said.
Old electrical wiring as well as water pipes encrusted with rust and rot have been replaced with new hardware that is up to code, Shellhamer said.
“You can imagine what 50 year-old iron plumbing looks like,” he said. “It was time that it needed critical upgrades operationally. The repairs were becoming more expensive and more intensive.”
An equally crucial factor was the reality that business at the resort has been steadily growing over the years, Shellhamer said, and expansion is necessary to keep up with that growth.
“Our business has increased volume-wise. We’ve grown every year for the last seven consecutive years,” he said. “We’ve really outgrown the existing space.”
Shellhamer said the needs for expansion really became clear just in the past two years.
On an average business day, he said there hasn’t been enough space in the changing rooms alone to accommodate the demand.
“It’s actually a good problem to have, to outgrow the available space,” Shellhamer said.
Once the initial phase of the property improvement plan is completed, Shellhamer said resort ownership will begin looking to the future at the next phase, which is to build more expansive lodging at the hot springs.
The existing cabins, he said, are not part of the plan. They will be replaced by a hotel instead.
“They are monthly now, because that’s where the demand is for those,” Shellhamer said.
But the units — only about 100 square feet each with a shower stall — are really too small for the target market, he said.
“They are too small to do right,” he said. “They are not the type of lodging that the traveler is looking for.”
Shellhamer said the lodging phase won’t take place until current construction projects are completed.
He said ownership hopes to find the right corporate partner over the next couple of years.
Long-term, resort ownership looks to develop into a tourist destination, a major attractor for visitors, while continuing to serve its local base, Shellhamer said.
“That’s our plan,” he said. “We’ve already conducted a market study to see the viability of putting in a major chain hotel. That will be one of the last steps to make this an event destination.”
Despite no direct through street to the property, Shellhamer said the resort already has freeway visibility and a long-standing reputation in the area.
“When you’re the only hot springs around and people are looking for you, they find us,” he said.
The resort’s curb appeal will be further enhanced by a water feature at the property’s entrance, he said.
With a popular restaurant already in place and a new local brewery due for completion by late summer, the foundation is being laid to meet the resort’s marketing strategy.
The overall improvement plan marks the most changes on the property in half a century.
The Carson hot springs have been drawing people to geothermal mineral waters since 1856, Shellhamer said.
Prior to that, he said, a toll business existed on the property, charging water to travelers on their way over the Sierra Nevada during the California Gold Rush.
“If you didn’t stop here, you probably weren’t going to make it,” Shellhamer said. “There’s a lot of history here.”
