Timbers Resorts moves headquarters to Winter Park

One of the world’s premier boutique resort and hotel developers and operators has checked into Winter Park.

Colorado-based Timbers Resorts announced earlier this month it is relocating its headquarters to Winter Park — a move that will bring 80 new jobs to the area.

The decision is in direct response to the company’s “growing portfolio of properties on the East Coast; its interest in expanding further into Florida, the Caribbean and Europe; and its desire to attract top industry talent for 80 job opportunities,” the company stated in a prepared statement.

Timbers Resorts was founded in 1999 and since then has grown to 15 properties located in Aspen, Beaver Creek, Cabo San Lucas, Jupiter, Kauai, Kiawah Island, Maui, Napa, Scottsdale, Snowmass, Sonoma, Southern California, Steamboat, Tuscany and Vail. That collection of properties includes boutique private resorts, hotels and residence clubs in some of the world’s most visited ski, golf, leisure and beach areas.

“We are very excited to join the Winter Park community,” CEO of Timbers Resorts Greg Spencer said. “We feel that Florida provides a phenomenal platform for the Timbers Resorts brand and is a natural setting to launch new creative experiential vacation offerings. Moving our headquarters out of the Aspen area was a difficult decision, but we feel that Winter Park has a very similar spirit that our brand and employees will fit well within.”

The statement from Timbers Resorts adds that Winter Park has been emerging as an epicenter of business in the Southeast with its location in Central Florida. The large amount of hospitality professionals and the close distance to higher education also played a major role in the decision.

“We can’t thank everyone enough for their true professionalism, their helpful nature and their welcoming hospitality,” said Spencer regarding the help Timbers Resorts received from the Orlando Economic Partnership, the city of Winter Park, the city of Orlando, Orange County and Enterprise Florida. “The overall Orlando community should be very proud that this world-class group of professionals is focused on providing job growth in their respective communities.”

Winter Park Chamber of Commerce CEO and President Betsy Gardner Eckbert said the city should be excited about Timbers Resorts’ arrival in Winter Park.

“We are incredibly excited to have a company whose brand kind of matches Winter Park,” Gardner Eckbert said. “It was really exciting to hear from them. We met with the CEO and their head of marketing. 

“In the end, they really felt that Winter Park mirrored their brand, so we were so excited that they realized the benefit of relocating an entire company here,” she said. “Of course, we have our world-class airport and shopping and all kinds of things that make Orlando a proper global city, but we’re excited that people are starting to see that kind of boutique experience that you can get from being in Winter Park — not just from living here now but working here, as well.”

Regarding the 80 jobs coming to the area, the excitement should come not just from the quantity but the quality, Gardner Eckbert said. The jobs are anticipated to create an average annual salary of at least $92,848, according to the Aug. 7 agenda for the Orange County Board of County Commissioners.

“That’s going to be a significant impact to our community,” Gardner Eckbert said. “I’m just really excited to work with their whole team. I think they’re just kind of a fresh, nimble team that’s very customer-focused. I think that they’re going to represent Winter Park beautifully, and I know that Winter Park is going to be a great resonant brand for them to be attached to.”

The company’s new headquarters — at 1031 W. Morse Blvd., Suite 350 — is set to open in the first quarter of 2019.

Timbers Resorts’ hiring process already is underway.