SE Group is proud to be a part of a team that recently won Premier Hospitality Magazine‘s 2022 Hospitality Design Award for ‘Best Event Space’ for the Rosebrook Lodge at Omni Hotels & Resorts’ Bretton Woods ski area at Mt. Washington. The 16,500 square foot lodge, which officially opened at the end of 2020, is perched near the top of the mountain, offering spectacular views across the Presidential Range. Skiers and hikers can easily access the year-round lodge via the Skyway Gondola, which SE Group also designed!

SE Group’s teams collaborated to ensure the lodge fit seamlessly within the larger Bretton Woods ecosystem, in addition to designing all of the plaza and terrace spaces. Our project partners included Bull Stockwell Allen (building design), TruexCullins Architecture + Interior Design (interior design), Horizons Engineering (civil engineering), and MWHarris Lighting Studio (light design). Congrats to all of the partners on this impressive space!

You can read more about the award in Premier Hospitality’s fall feature.  The next time you visit Mount Washington, make sure to get a meal at the Switchback Grille and enjoy this amazing setting!

On Saturday, December 17 2022, Palisades Tahoe officially opened the Base to Base Gondola, which connects Palisades Olympic Valley with Alpine Meadows. The new combined area makes Palisades Tahoe the largest resort in California, and the third largest in North America.  You can read about the gondola’s opening in the Tahoe Daily Tribune’s article.

SE Group is proud to have led the mountain planning and NEPA environmental analysis for this groundbreaking project, alongside Leitner-Poma Of America (lift design and engineering), Ascent Environmental (CEQA environmental analysis), Psomas (civil engineering), DOA Architecture (structure design), and RRC Associates (market research). During the course of this nearly decade-long project, SE Group analyzed more than 40 scenarios to connect the two valleys, ensuring a solution that was both environmentally sensitive and economically viable.

The benefits of the Base to Base Gondola are many, but crucially 1) it takes cars off of the chronically congested Highway 89; 2) it improves accessibility to the excellent beginner terrain at Alpine Meadows; and 3) it links the Alpine Meadows terrain to the robust accommodation options at Palisades Olympic Valley.

SE Group’s Minnesota Discovery Center Master Plan project has received the Vermont Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects’ (VTASLA) 2022 Award of Excellence for Planning, Research, and Analysis, the competition’s highest honor. The biennial Awards Program honors works in landscape architectural design, planning, communications, or research completed by members of VTASLA or for projects completed within Vermont by members of out-of-state American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) members. The awards were judged by an impartial jury of five landscape architects from the Alabama ASLA Chapter.

The Minnesota Discovery Center is a nonprofit museum and event complex in Chisholm, Minnesota that tells the story of the region’s mining history. SE Group was hired to develop a plan to reinvigorate the Center’s amenities and capitalize on the region’s shift to an outdoor recreation economy – while staying true to their original mission.

Senior Landscape Architect Patrick Olstad and Senior Recreation Planner Andrew Pollak-Bruce, CPRP led the master planning process. The result was a strong demonstration of SE Group’s multidisciplinary team collaboration, delivering a site-specific design that promotes a more engaging and cohesive family-friendly experience, with a visual character rooted in the local landscape. With a focus on revenue generation opportunities, the plan also includes financial modeling and implementation recommendations to support the long-term financial sustainability of the Center.

For more information on this year’s VTASLA winners, please visit their Awards page.

SE Group is honored to receive awards for both the Project of the Year and Plan of the Year by the Vermont Planners Association.

Project of the Year: The City of South Burlington’s Market Street Reconstruction Project
This $21M streetscape design project, which began in 2012, was recently completed in 2019. The street is the cornerstone of the City Center project. With colorful perennial plantings, permeable brick pavers and generous sidewalks, the stage has been set for an attractive mixed-use center. A “stormwater park” with native plantings and public art provides a relaxing space away from traffic, while also supporting wildlife such as amphibians and songbirds. SE Group’s involvement has spanned the entire 7-year period—from early conceptual work to detailed streetscape design and construction review. 

Plan of the Year: Enosburg Falls Vital Village Master Plan
The Vital Village Master Plan promotes the economic development and community health for the Town of Enosburg Falls, VT.  Key concepts of the plan explored streetscape and community enhancements supporting complete streets, access management, improved multi-modal connections, beautification, wayfinding, and storefront/façade enhancements. Innovative public engagement strategies were central to the plan’s development. Technology-based formats like virtual village walking tours delivered through an engaging StoryMap were combined with simple “meet people where they are” grassroots workshops. Notably, one public event in the village center utilized the talents of local artists to complete a crosswalk, streetscape, and public art pop-up demonstration project. The resulting Master Plan provides an actionable implementation strategy—identifying development opportunities around the recreation tourism economy, an improved pedestrian-friendly streetscape, and a unified community identity.

A recent article on the continuing efforts in Enosburg, and the community’s resiliency even during COVID-19, was featured on Vermont Public Radio.