Limelight Condominiums to be rebuilt after fire

This illustration shows the approved design of the new Limelight Condominiums.

Nearly a year after a massive fire that displaced dozens of people and destroyed much of the Limelight Condominiums in Ketchum, plans to rebuild the structure—this time, with increased safety measures, such as fire sprinklers—have been approved by the city.

A barbecue grill with a recently replaced propane hose was the source of a fire that burned down the complex along Warm Springs Road last fall, according to a report from the Idaho State Fire Marshal’s Office.

The new project includes complete reconstruction of the first and second floors but not of the subterranean structure or foundation of the building. Both were salvaged in the fire.

While there will be no change to the occupancy capacity of the building, the newly constructed sections will include fire sprinklers, which the previous building did not have. Because it was built prior to the adoption of city fire codes in the early 1970s, the building was grandfathered into the city’s code. In addition, there will be fire partitions installed within the walls around the facility to protect against fire danger.

The balconies of the building will be made of composite, fire-resistant decking made by Trex. The railings will be made of metal. The exterior façade material will be treated wood siding, stucco and stone. The roof—which was previously wood shake shingles that are no longer code-compliant—will be composite, fire-resistant shingles.

“The project architects took special care to ensure the use of fire-resistant materials in the new construction,” Ketchum Planning and Building Director Morgan Landers said.

“If there had been sprinklers, the fire might have been contained to one unit. If there had been a central alarm system, we probably would have made it out five minutes earlier, which is a big difference,” Ketchum Fire Chief Bill McLaughlin said after the fire last fall. “If we had had an access road around back, we could have cut the damage in half. Those are all pieces that make new buildings so much safer—this shows why those pieces are in place.”

The planned renovation of the structure includes plans for 26 units. Each of the two floors will have six one-bedroom units and seven two-bedroom units.

The new building was approved without public input because the city’s design-review guidelines allow for administrative approvals if the building is similar enough to the one it is replacing. In this case, the previous building was nonconforming with the city’s current code due to how close the building was to Warm Springs Road. That distance, called a “setback,” is the only significant change in the building’s new layout.

The city received an administrative design-review application on April 11, 2023, which included all the necessary fees, and processed the application “like we do all land-use applications,” Landers said.

The fire marshal’s February report states that the grill’s gas hose was likely not completely connected to a propane tank—a simple mistake, according to the report—which caused fuel to leak and ignite when the grill was lit in the early evening of Sept. 3.

The grill was on a balcony of a second-floor apartment. First the balcony, then the rest of the unit were quickly consumed by the fire as the couple living in the unit ran outside and called 911. The fire broke out at about 6:30 p.m. in the upper “A” building of the condominium complex at 2107 Warm Springs Road, between Ketchum and the Warm Springs base of Bald Mountain.

The Ketchum Fire Department received the call at 6:36 p.m. and was at the scene by 6:40. The Sun Valley, Hailey and Wood River fire departments also responded to the call.

The various fire crews were not able to contain the fire until 4 a.m., with small fires being put out into the early hours of the next morning. A structurally unstable balcony made it more difficult to access the fire in the beginning stages of firefighting, according to the report.

The city said there were no human casualties, but some pets were reportedly lost in the incident.

“In terms of total damage, this is the worst fire that we’ve had here in 20 years,” McLaughlin said in September.

Twenty-eight people were displaced by the fire. The city helped organize an effort—aided by local businesses—to provide temporary housing, food and clothing for the affected residents. All of the residents found temporary housing that night, Ketchum Housing Strategist Carissa Connelly told the Express in September.

Hollis Partners Architects of Ketchum has been retained for the project. The estimated cost of the construction is approximately $4.7 million.

Landers said that the city cannot regulate barbecue grills on private property. Such regulation can only be done by HOAs through covenants, conditions and restrictions, or CC&Rs. 

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Will it be long term rentals or AirBNBs?

Scroll down to policies. Two were previously short term rentals

https://inidaho.com/official.asp?ID=6007

That’s two we know about. Now that people have moved out, will the rest go STR?

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