A Tuscan Christmas | The Ranch Club

By LORI GRANNIS of the Missoulian
Photos by TOM BAUER of the Missoulian

John and Colleen Powers

The Ranch Club
2775 Bunkhouse Place

John and Colleen Powers purchased the Scottish links-style Ranch Club golf course (formerly Phantom Hills) nearly two years ago from Washington Corp.
Since then, the couple has set about the task of turning the 18-hole championship course and surrounding land into a family-oriented community – complete with fine dining restaurant, fitness center, and saltwater pool and spa complex.
As part of this year’s Holiday Home Tour, the Powers will be opening one of their newly constructed lodge-style homes to the public for a first look at progress on Ranch Club’s exclusive family community.
The 5,300-square-foot lodge, a jewel of Western living and the good life, will feature a Tuscan Christmas theme, complete with Italian lanterns and Mediterranean-inspired appetizers.
“We chose a Tuscan theme because we want to convey a feeling of warmth and family,” said Colleen Powers. “So we’ll have garlands and greenery, and candles – lots of candles.”
From a family of 13 children, Powers equates the Christmas holidays with pricelss family moments spent in childhood.
“Even when John and I travel over the holidays, we still always put up a Christmas tree, because the holiday spirit is so fleeting and is such a special time,” she said.
The Ranch Club, which sits alongside Mullan Road, will eventually accommodate 95 lodge-style homes, from 1,600 square feet to 5,300 square feet in size, designed by Missoula architect Nick Fullerton and built by Russ Giese of Sapphire Construction.
Fullerton designed the homes to feature a mix of post-and-beam construction, with Craftsman style and Western flourishes.
Homes will include high-end appointments, such as Wolf and Subzero brand appliances, and will feature sweeping views of the Missoula Valley and surrounding mountainsides.
Lodge homes, which will be sold as no-maintenance patio course homes, will range from $600,000 to $1.8 million in price, depending upon size and appointments. They will include snow removal, mowing, and other neighborhood and landscape beautifications.
Powers said Red Rooster home boutique owner Kim Arnot will be decking the show home’s halls especially for the upcoming December tour, and is putting “unique design touches” on new model homes.
Arnot also has a home along this year’s tour route – a newly remodeled bungalow in central Missoula.
Being a part of the 2008 holiday-theme tour was important to the Powerses because they want Missoula to catch a glimpse of the painstaking planning they are putting into making the Ranch Club golf community a place to remember.
“The tour will give people a chance to really understand and see firsthand what it is we’re trying to create here,” she said.

Missoulian reporter Lori Grannis
may be reached at 523-5251 or lori.grannis@lee.net.