In the remote northeast corner of Utah, Powder Haven has quietly become one of the most intriguing experiments in luxury ski real estate. Acquired by Netflix cofounder Reed Hastings in 2023, the resort is undergoing a transformation that aims to redefine what it means to live—and ski—in the mountains.

That pitch has clearly resonated. Phase one—39 build-ready lots—sold out in record time, many before roads were even paved. Buyers purchased based on flagged corners and renderings. “It sold out in three or four months,” Hastings tells Robb Report. “The demand has been tremendous.”

Offerings range from multi-acre custom homesites to turnkey chalets by leading firms such as CLB, Lloyd Architects, and Walker Warner. The next release will bring another 34 custom lots, most between two and five acres, priced at an average of about $4 million. Eight developer-built chalets, between 3,500 and 5,200 square feet, will debut this fall with construction slated to begin next spring. Larger 6,500-square-foot homes will also arrive in 2026. Each is designed for ski-in, ski-out living, with panoramic decks and contemporary alpine architecture that nods to the Wasatch Range.

For Hastings, the project is personal. After two decades of skiing out of a house in downtown Park City, he and his family built a home at Powder in 2021. “Every year [Park City] got more and more crowded, and Vail brought in the passes,” he recalls. “Then, in 2016, we discovered Powder Mountain. We were just stunned at how beautiful it was—uncrowded skiing, totally unique geography. We bought a lot right away and built a house.”

That connection deepened after Hastings retired from Netflix two and a half years ago. “I went from skiing 10 days a year to 60,” he says. “You get better, you get to know the mountain, you get friends. And I could see the mountain was struggling. The existing owners came to me and said, ‘Would you be willing to take it over?’ They just didn’t have the capital to execute on the big, bold vision. I thought, why not? If not me, then who?”

At the center of that vision is Powder Haven, a 12,000-acre private community. Unlike Yellowstone Club or Wasatch Peaks Ranch, its closest analogs, Powder Haven is as much about preserving the soul of skiing in the Rocky Mountains as it is about exclusivity. “Private skiing is obviously this really, really small niche, and it’s one of those things that most people don’t even know exists,” says Brandi Hammon, chief revenue officer at Powder Haven. Unlike other status-driven enclaves, Powder’s draw is quieter—membership is capped at just 650 families to ensure the mountain never loses its intimacy.

Yet Powder Haven isn’t a closed-off world. Hastings emphasizes a balance between private and public access. Members enjoy 2,700 acres of private ski terrain, while the remaining 5,300 acres of Powder Mountain’s slopes are open to the public, though carefully managed to avoid overcrowding.

“It’s essentially a membership program,” Hastings says. “Powder is more expensive than Netflix, but, you know, it’s the basic idea of focusing on membership—whether that’s a season pass on the public side or full membership on the private side. There are a lot of great lessons of the positivity that that creates if you nurture the membership, and how then happy members bring their friends in. And so really focusing on member satisfaction, that whole positive growth spiral that we had at Netflix is here also.”

For Hastings, Powder Haven isn’t just a development play; it’s a legacy project. “Professional developers will tell you, ‘Don’t live in the community. You have to look at it like a money-making proposition,’” he says. “But I’m a passion developer, so I live in the community. It’s a big part of my legacy.”

Infrastructure is scaling fast. Powder Haven currently runs three private lifts, with a fourth opening this winter. Breaking ground in 2025, the 73,000-square-foot Arclodge clubhouse, designed by Hart Howerton with interiors by Champalimaud, will anchor the community with dining, spa, fitness, bowling, and climbing walls.

And then there’s the art. Hastings is investing in large-scale land installations across the mountain, which he likens to “Storm King on a ski resort.” The concept is deeply personal: his wife grew up next door to the famed Hudson Valley sculpture park. “Imagine that on a ski area,” he says. “Spectacular, and without the New York Thruway right there. For the West, it’s creating our own sense of land art and visitation. That’s a gift to the public.”

With real estate moving as fast as the lifts themselves, Powder Haven is emerging as both a lucrative bet and a fresh blueprint for luxury ski living—one where exclusivity and authenticity, wealth and joy, share the same slope. “Despite retiring, I said, okay, I’ll be CEO of this,” Hastings says. “It’s been so much fun. It’s just a joy.”

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