SAN MARCOS: Architect says San Elijo Hills swim club project is dead : North County Times

By ANDREA MOSS – Staff Writer | Monday, February 23, 2009 12:11 PM PST

SAN MARCOS —- The architect involved in plans for a $5 million swim club in San Elijo Hills said Monday that the project is dead after the proposed site’s owners refused to extend a deadline for the land’s purchase. Russell Geyser, a developer who lives in the upscale San Elijo Hills development, and Chris Shea of the Carlsbad architecture firm CB Shea unveiled their plan last month during a meeting with community members. Geyser told meeting participants he was prepared to build a 4,000-square-foot, resort-style pool on the northwest corner of San Elijo Road and Wild Canyon Drive if enough community members were willing to support the project financially.

Likening the club he envisioned to upscale Hawaiian resorts’ outdoor areas, Geyser estimated its cost at $5 million. He proposed a two-tiered program that would let San Elijo Hills residents buy founding and nonfounding memberships in the club.

In exchange for their money, members would enjoy exclusive use of the club. Geyser said 640 memberships of each type would have to be sold for the membership structure to work. Only 40 or so people attended the initial meeting. On Monday, however, Shea said e-mails he and Geyser received from San Elijo Hills residents in the first three weeks afterward indicated that more than 200 families were interested in being founding club members. The men saw the response as promising because they had yet to do anything to really promote the idea, Shea said– Read more via SAN MARCOS: Architect says San Elijo Hills swim club project is dead : North County Times -02-23-2009.