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Ross Bridge Attracts Two resort Veterans 10/15/2004

Originally posted at:
http://birmingham.bizjournals.com/birmingham/stories/2004/10/18/story2.html
Publication: Birmingham Business Journal
Author: Gilbert Nicholson

Greenbrier in West Virginia. The Cloister at Sea Island. Fairmont Banff Springs in the Canadian Rockies. Ross Bridge in Hoover.

Placing the Retirement Systems of Alabama's new hotel and golf course alongside these illustrious resorts may seem a far reach for a property that hasn't opened. But not if you take a close look at the two men chosen to run the development under construction just outside Birmingham.

Steve Miller, general manager of the 258-room Ross Bridge Resort and Spa on the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail, comes from the 218-room Hilton Sedona Resort and Spa in Arizona's Red Rock country. Joe Saling, director of sales and marketing, comes by way of the Opryland Hotel in Nashville, Tenn., and the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, N.C. Why would these two men, both 43, leave landmark resorts to come to an untested development in Alabama?

"When you're looking at brand-new construction from the ground up, hiring your own staff, putting in your own practices where there are no habits, creating your own standards - from an emotional standpoint, it's fun to watch the whole thing come together," Miller says.

"This is going to be such a hospitality landmark that I wanted to have some involvement in that and help birth it, if you will, and help create it," Saling says. "In my career, I have not had that opportunity. I've always walked into an environment where the culture was already created and defined."
An insider, an outsider

To be sure, Miller and Saling will have their imprints on Ross Bridge, as they are currently hiring management personnel who will ultimately define its personality and character.

The 20-acre Ross Bridge Resort, snuggled up against Shades Mountain and part of a self-contained community under construction by Daniel Corp., will feature 20,000 square feet of indoor/outdoor meeting space; a 12,000-square-foot, full-service European spa; and the crown jewel: an 18-hole, 8,100-yard Robert Trent Jones public golf course.

Site work began in August 2003, and the $55 million resort is expected to be finished in April 2005. Landscaping is the only major bid still to be let on the resort.

The Retirement Systems of Alabama and the City of Hoover are financing construction of the resort and golf course. Daniel Corp. and USS Realty are funding the rest of the 1,600-acre project, which includes retail, offices, apartments and homes at the foot of Shades Mountain between Alabama Highway 150 and West Oxmoor Road.