Apache Tribe Builds Glamour and Luxury Into Remote Resort
By Tony Illia

The ancient gods of the Mescalero Apaches chose the dramatic Sacramento Mountains as their eternal resting place. Now, the 4,000-member tribe is setting aside a piece of heaven for its new $149-million, 1.1-million-sq-ft Inn of the Mountain Gods Resort & Casino.

Tribal members turned to design-build to create a unique facility that best embodied their cultural values while environmentally embracing the surrounding evergreen landscape in Mescalero, N.M., about 200 miles south of Albuquerque. The 273-room facility is set against the base of the 12,003-ft-tall Sierra Blanca Peak and overlooks a 100-acre man-made lake stocked with Rainbow and German brown trout.

But to complete the new five-star resort, which opened March 15, 2005, the design-build team first had to overcome longstanding issues of distrust. "The quality of work hadn’t lived-up to the tribe’s expectations in the past," says Richard A. Johnson, president and CEO of Centex Construction’s Dallas division. "You have to develop a level of trust. A lot of these tribes have had bad experiences with contractors and government groups in the past."

Centex started to alleviate tribal fears by first building a new $33-million, 220,000-sq-ft K-12 school under a construction manager at-risk contract. Opened in May 2002, the school was a crucial prelude to the Mountain Gods project.

	Low profile of the 1,200-ft long resort/casino facade was intended to blend well with the mountain setting and a 100-acre man-made lake.

But the school’s location on 720-sq miles of reservation land initially made many subcontractors uneasy. The tribe acts as a sovereign nation immune to rulings of state and federal courts as well as mechanic’s liens. If a dispute occurs, a contractor has no means for recourse unless the contract terms outline a specific resolution procedure. Tribes often view sovereignty as their cultural right and biggest bargaining chip in contract negotiations. The Mescalero Apaches, in this instance, granted a limited sovereignty waiver as a measure of good faith. The move helped Centex lure top-tier subcontractors to the jobsite, although it still took several pre-bid meetings and lots of reassurance to allay their concerns.

The school’s timely completion and prompt payment history quickly dispelled subcontractor fears and the subs were eager to return for future projects. "The school was very important to us. We had students in trailers and we didn’t have a high school. The students were being transported out-of-town," says Sara Misquez, former tribal president. "We had a one-on-one relationship with Centex and their top executives from Dallas who came and met with us. We also visited some of their projects that they had built in other areas. We put all of our trust in them."

Forging a strong working relationship was very important since elected tribal officers changed numerous times during the course of construction. But Centex’s reputation in the tribal community coupled with its ability to deliver helped it deal easily with different representatives.

The firm next tackled a $13-million eldercare/kidney dialysis facility and a $14- million, 47,000-sq-ft casino travel center, both under lump-sum contracts. The two projects, completed in May 2004, finished laying the foundation for the Mountain Gods project, the tribe’s largest and most ambitious undertaking to date.

A casino built in 1975 and consisting of 10 A-frame and rectangular buildings stood in the way. The tribe initially considered rehabilitating the structures, which would have meant costly asbestos and lead paint removal, but quickly abandoned the idea in favor of razing them and building a replacement resort.

Unlike prior undertakings that the tribe funded from working capital, Mountain Gods was financed by $200 million worth of revenue bonds, payable in eight years. While Centex acted as an informal owner’s representative for the first three projects, the lender required an outside party to oversee the new work. The tribe hired Rider Hunt Levett & Bailey, Scottsdale, Ariz. Centex served as the design-build contractor under a $135-million lump-sum deal, which grew to $149 million due to owner-driven changes. These included an expanded parking garage, added guest rooms and an upgraded convention center.

The tribe was seeking a unique design that would appeal to a broader, more affluent customer base and that would attract a nationwide clientele. Centex recommended a three-stage national architecture contest, which was held in 2002. Worth Group Architects P.C., Englewood, Colo., won the competition, beating-out finalists Leo A Daly, Omaha, Neb., and Walsh Bishop Associates Inc., Bloomington, Minn.

Worth Group offered a low-profile, stepped design that provided lakefront views to 90% of the hotel rooms. "The facade stretches 1,200-ft. in length, nearly a quarter of a mile, to create single-loaded corridors so that nearly every room has a lakefront view," says Jeff Morris, Worth Group’s lead architect. "The five-level building is staggered from east-to-west into the mountainside making it appear only two stories tall from the roadside."

Teaming

Centex and Worth Group were familiar with one another, having previously worked together on the travel center. With 800 slot machines, a gas station, restaurant and convenience store, the travel center helped the tribe maintain an income and keep its work force employed while the resort was constructed. Centex and Worth Group formed a limited liability corporation for the Mountain Gods job, with the architect working under a fixed-fee subcontract.

The project faced a 25-month fast-track schedule. This resulted in seven bid packages that permitted construction to start while drawings were being finished, shaving six months off the schedule. Demolition of the old resort began in January 2003 and finished two months later. Since Apaches consider soil sacred, Centex had to relocate 265,000-cu yd of material excavated from the 12-acre site elsewhere on the reservation within six weeks. And it had to partially replace 100,000 tons of engineered fill during the same time frame.

Owner-driven scope changes, including tripling the size of the underground parking garage, drove up the price but did not impact schedule.

The resort sits on a complicated site with steep slopes facing the lake. Initially planning a surface parking lot, architects redesigned the project to include a three-story, 1,500-space underground garage. That freed up surface space for a more aesthetically engaging and dramatic main entrance. The garage also provides a direct link into the resort, allowing patrons to avoid cold outdoor walks during winter months, which is critical since the resort is situated 7,200-ft above sea level and receives significant snowfall.

The tribe opted for a steel-framed, precast concrete garage instead of a masonry block structure due to labor constraints. There were not enough masons available to build the 600,000-sq-ft structure if it had been block.

The project’s remoteness presented a challenge in finding skilled tradesmen says Jason D. Harper, Centex’s senior project manager. Mountain Gods, located seven miles southwest of Ruidoso, N.M., is more than 500 miles away from major cities such as Phoenix, Denver and Dallas. There was a peak work force of 450 people at 37 firms. Centex imported subcontractors from Arizona, Texas, Colorado, California, Utah, Washington and Alabama. "We had relationships with many of the local subcontractors from our prior jobs," Harper says. "But many of the firms couldn’t handle a project this large so we encouraged them to team with a national subcontractor, giving them the added manpower and resources needed to participate in the project. It worked out very well."

	Casino and hotel are designed to appeal to a more upscale, national clientele.

The overall project required 8,500 tons of steel plus 236,421 lb of copper wire, 1,360 wood doors, 20,893 light fixtures, 94,600 sq ft of stone and tile and 47,100 sq yd of carpet, which is enough to cover over seven football fields. Centex, which did not self-perform work, prequalified subcontractors to make certain they could meet the project’s demands. It held daily, weekly and monthly meetings as needed with all subcontractors to foster a team atmosphere.

Centex also used performance-based rewards. It had monthly raffles to promote safety where workers could win everything from barbecues and cordless drills to fishing poles and tool sets. And one superintendent a month was recognized for leadership skills and positive attitude with a plaque and cash reward. The design-build team also solicited input from its subs about constructability and cost issues, which helped involve them in the process.

The relationships and camaraderie enabled Centex to meet to its original Feb. 28, 2005 deadline, despite $14 million in scope additions. The project had $1,000 a day in liquidated damages for late completion, which never came into play. The parking structure was among the change orders, nearly tripling in size to become the largest steel-framed underground garage in the U.S. With castellated beams, which are 1/3 lighter than traditional girders, the garage has an open airy feeling. They also allow utilities to be placed in beam cavities, reducing floor depths.

Mountain Gods rests atop a foundation of 460 drilled piers, averaging 30 ft deep and 4 ft in diameter The 75-ft-high resort cuts into the mountain, which required a 1,200-ft-long, 35-ft-high mechanically stabilized earth retaining wall.

Cultural Connection

Centex/Worth Group held several design meetings with tribal officials to determine the final shape and look of the resort, incorporating many facets of tribal culture into the building’s architecture. The Mescalero Apache Tribe was established by executive order of President Ulysses S. Grant on May 27, 1873. Prior to that, they were known as nomadic hunters and gatherers that roamed the Southwest. They also were experts in guerrilla warfare and highly skilled horsemen. The resort’s design concept comes from the shape of a 19th century Apache war shield.

Tribe is already talking expansion.

"Despite doing a lot of research, we were very cautious to not appear more knowledgeable about their heritage than they were," Morris says. "A lot of what we did will only be understood by tribal members." The semi-circular entryway, for example, takes its inspiration from the war shield, and its palette of colors and materials have been selected to suggest serenity and a connection with nature.

The steel-framed resort is clad with a combination of EIFS, stone and glass, with wood interiors and fireplaces. The massive Grand Hall atrium, which spans up to 40-ft, suggests an inverted A-shape as a historical nod to the resort’s previous main building. Other gestures are more obvious, such as five bronze statues of Apache Crown Dancers created by Frederick Peso, which are sited around an entrance fountain and a three-story waterfall.

Yet the new resort also is very modern. It features a 38,000-sq-ft casino with 1,000 slot machines and 34 game tables, plus a 40,000-sq-ft convention center, two restaurants, a 250-seat buffet, a nightclub and a 20,000-sq-ft spa and fitness center with an indoor pool. Additional amenities include a 100-seat sports bar, a piano bar lounge, big game hunting, horseback riding and an 18-hole golf course.

Mountain Gods is located off of U.S. Highway 70 and plays a major economic role in the neighboring communities, creating 1,300 jobs. It is Otero County’s second-largest employer and contributes an estimated $50 million annually to the economy. "People are blown away by the resort, which far exceeded our expectations," says Brian Parrish, acting Mountain Gods CEO. "We could see up to 500,000 visitors next year, which is a significant increase over our original facility. And future expansion could double our room inventory."

(All photos courtesy of Centex Construction)