The first overnight guests check in at The Observatory on Friday, Oct. 30. Ketchum residents got in two weeks earlier, through the dining room. Joan, the restaurant at the 73-room Viceroy hotel on the corner of Main and River Streets, began serving dinner to the public in mid-October. The Bigwood Brief reported the opening in its Oct. 15 issue, along with the posted hours for Odin's Corner, the hotel café.
Most coverage stops at the restaurant. The more lasting part of this building for people who live here sits five floors up. Since 2015, Ketchum's approvals for the project have counted the rooftop observatory as a public amenity. The city has carried that condition through every rename, default and restart. A 2026 legal document for the building spells out how a member of the public books a visit, step by step. The rooftop programs haven't opened yet, but the rules for sharing the space are already on file at City Hall.
A Condition That Outlasted Every Name on the Building
The corner has had several names. In 2008 the project was approved as Hotel Ketchum. It was later called the Harriman and then the Appellation, according to the Idaho Mountain Express. The site had been a rustic shopping center with two restaurants. Excavation began in 2016 and construction stalled completely in 2020. In November 2020 the city found the project in breach of its development agreement for failing to prove financing. In January 2021 it voided the agreement and all the permits. In June 2022 a settlement brought in a new financier, Andy Blank, whose family has been in the valley since the 1970s. The building permit was issued on March 12, 2024.
The rooftop requirement survived all of it. Here is the language in the Amended and Restated Development Agreement, dated Oct. 5, 2015:
"The observatory has been accepted as a public amenity and as such shall be open to the public a reasonable number of hours. The applicant shall make a proposal to the City Council regarding the operation of the observatory, to be approved by the City Council prior to issuance of any Certificate of Occupancy."
A separate planning condition is more specific about who gets in. Observatory hours "shall be developed that provides for access for the public, schools and other interest groups." The project returned to the Planning and Zoning Commission after the settlement. In a December 2022 staff report, city staff wrote that this condition "remains in full effect." When the City Council took up the building's condominium plat on July 9, 2026, the staff memo said the project was still subject to the original planning approval, the 2022 design review and the development agreement as amended.
The same 2015 agreement sets public improvements at street level for what it calls the Gateway Plaza at Main and River. They include bike racks, benches, public art, trees and street lights.
How a Resident Will Get to the Roof
The access rules sit in the declaration for the 300 River Street East Condominiums. It was included in the City Council packet for the July 2026 plat review. Section 15.12 gives the public "a non-exclusive right to access the Observatory Terrace Deck, the Observatory Room, and the Trail Creek lookout." It then sets out the procedure for the rooftop:
- Make a reservation through a system run by the hotel or its management company.
- Enter through the hotel's main doors on River Street and check in at reception.
- Sign a liability waiver. Every visitor must sign one.
- A hotel employee walks you through the lobby level to elevator No. 2 and up to the observatory foyer.
The declaration adds that the hotel "may offer annual astronomy programmed events," booked through the same reservation system. The section does not list rooftop hours or a public price. Separately, the development agreement requires an operating proposal for the observatory to be approved by the City Council.
The second public right in that section covers a Trail Creek lookout in the riparian zone at the south edge of the property. You reach it by a stairwell on the south side of the hotel's west wing, which runs from the Highway 75 sidewalk down to an exterior terrace. It is open during daylight hours, or during hours the hotel sets for safety and insurance. No reservation is mentioned.
What Is Waiting Under the Dome
The rooftop holds a 12.5-foot rotating Ash Dome over a 17-inch PlaneWave telescope, with astrophotography cameras that send images throughout the building. The hotel's observatory page says the telescope viewing and guided stargazing programs "are coming soon and are not currently available to guests." Overnight guests have to wait as well.
Karen Bossick toured the building for Eye on Sun Valley in September, and her account shows how a visit is meant to work. Visitors won't look through the eyepiece. The telescopes will send live images to screens in a rooftop room lined with small love seats and couches. The same feed will play on televisions throughout the hotel. She reported that the room would be open to guests and residents, and to school groups and the public by reservation. The hotel plans photography tours with fine-art astrophotographer Travis Amick, plus talks and viewing events with the Central Idaho Dark Sky Alliance and other groups.
Developer Jack Bariteau told Eye on Sun Valley that the idea goes back to 2005, when he first brought the project to the city. He saw the potential of the valley's dark skies before any formal designation existed. Ketchum now sits inside the Central Idaho Dark Sky Reserve, which the same article describes as the first Dark Sky Reserve established in the United States. "The crowning piece would be the observatory," he said. On seeing the building nearly finished, he added, "To see this nearly finished after 22 years? Very surreal."
The Ground Floor Is Where the Sky Theme Starts
The dining room already draws on the rooftop's calendar. The Joan page lists a Solstice and Equinox Dinner Series, "Moon Phase Moments," and private dining paired with stargazing. Executive chef Nicola Cavicchini grew up in Italy. He spent time in the Dolomites and worked at the Four Seasons Resort Maui at Wailea, Rosewood Miramar Beach and CordeValle. He cooks a hyper-seasonal menu built around wood-fired dishes. The restaurant is named for Joan Blank, Andy Blank's late mother. She trained as a singer at Juilliard, performed for troops with the USO during World War II, and sang in clubs under the stage name Joan Adair.
Here is where each space stood in mid-October, before permanent hours were posted:
| Space | Status | Terms for a local |
|---|---|---|
| Joan restaurant | Open | Dinner 5 to 9 p.m., reservations recommended; seats 65 to 70, with a patio fire pit on the northwest corner |
| Joan Bar & Lounge | Open | 14 seats at a zinc-topped bar, plus a lounge with a gas fireplace; first come, first served; same menu as the dining room |
| Odin's Corner | Hours posted | Counter-service café, 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Intelligentsia coffee, grab-and-go food, house-baked pastries and gelato |
| Valet parking | Running | Free valet for Joan, Odin's Corner and spa customers; up to three hours validated with a purchase, then $15 an hour up to $60 |
| Spa | Under construction | Expected in mid-November; posted rates include a 60-minute Swedish massage at $260 and a 60-minute facial at $270 |
| Rooftop observatory | Not yet open | Reservation, check-in, waiver and escort rules are set in the condominium declaration; no public schedule posted |
Two details in the table may change. In mid-October, the Bigwood Brief listed Joan as open Monday through Friday. The hotel's own page lists the bar until 10 p.m. and says permanent hours for its dining venues begin Oct. 27, so check the Joan page before you go. The hotel has not yet published day-pass or local membership terms for the spa. When it opens, the spa will have a co-ed thermal pool, cold plunge, Finnish-style sauna and six treatment rooms on the creek level.
The hotel says it is building around locals as well. Tim Cartwright, the resort's director of sales and marketing, told Eye on Sun Valley that the team expects most of the spa, restaurant and bar business to come from the community. "It's a big, big focus for us," he said, adding that programming and special offers for Wood River Valley residents are in development.
The dining room is open for reservations. The rooftop is the part the city wrote into the building's approvals for the public, and no public schedule has been posted for it yet. The Trail Creek lookout needs no reservation at all. Its declared hours are daylight, reached by the stairwell off the Highway 75 sidewalk.
Over the years we have watched this corner go from a shopping center to an empty pit to a lit building, and we follow what each new addition at the south end of town means for the people who live near it. If you have questions about downtown Ketchum, including the residences on the top floors of this building, Matthew Stevenson and the Stevenson Real Estate Group are glad to talk, with no pressure.
