Blue Mountain Resort announced Tuesday that plans are underway for the Vista Lodge Residence Club.

The Vista Lodge Residence Club development will provide high-end ski-in/ski-out real estate at Blue Mountain Resort, and will include a luxurious 4-star condominium resort hotel connected to the Summit Lodge at the peak of the mountain with panoramic views of the valley below.Studio, one-, two- and three-bedroom condominiums will be available for purchase later this year with an anticipated construction start in 2017.All condominiums will come fully furnished and will have full kitchens. A long list of hotel amenities and services including a member's club room, fitness center, heated pool, hot tubs, spa services, valet service, bell service, concierge services, daily housekeeping and complete year-round property management will be available for owners.An owner will have the option to use their condominium for personal enjoyment or to rent unused time through Vista Lodge's in-house rental management company operated by Blue Mountain Resort."Lodging within a 30-minute drive of our resort is limited and we are extremely confident that rental demand for The Vista Lodge will be incredible. Last year alone, we hosted over 100 weddings and our future bookings are excellent," said Barbara Green, president of the resort.The resort is taking names of people interested in buying a condo in its Vista Lodge Residence Club. Guests and owners will be able to ski-in and ski-out of the lodge."We received over 300 names of people who are interested in the condos in one weekend," Green said.The resort plans to launch a sales event later this year and open it at the end of 2018."We're doing quite a bit of development here," she said.Green said development at Blue Mountain has been slowed by the township sewer expansion and proposed PennEast pipeline.PennEast Pipeline Co. has petitioned to run a natural gas pipeline from the Wilkes-Barre area down through Danielsville and on through the Lehigh Valley, where it will end near Trenton, New Jersey.The resort hoped to open its Summit Splash Water Park by spring 2015."The water park is morphing into a hot springs," said Barbara Green, president of the resort. "We are waiting on the PennEast pipeline. It doesn't make sense to tear up the mountain twice."Green envisions the water park to be a place where people will be able to enjoy the hot springs in the winter.She would like construction to begin in 2017, but realizes it could slip to 2018. If the pipeline doesn't go through as planned, UGI has a gas pipeline that runs near the base of the mountain. Green is looking at using natural gas to heat the springs in the water park.Blue Mountain renovated and expanded the Slopeside Pub and Grill at the Summit Lodge, added mountain bike trails, disc golf courses, outdoor laser tag fields, zip lines and climbing walls, and offers 39 ski trails 22 tubing lanes and 16 ski lifts.At some point, Blue Mountain will also expand and upgrade its sewage treatment plant. Lower Towamensing Township plans to run a sewer line that will service Aquashicola, Walkton, Little Gap, Red Hill Road and Weiner Mobile Estates. The total cost of the project, including the upgrade at Blue Mountain, is estimated to be about $12.4 million.Lower Towamensing Township supervisors said they planned to negotiate with Tuthill Corp., the owner of Blue Mountain Resort, to pay almost $1.5 million for the new plant.Green said even after the treatment plant is expanded, it won't be that much bigger."The whole sewage plant is less than 2 acres," she said.These major capital improvements over the past eight years have been an ongoing effort by the resort as it strives to become an all-season destination.Blue Mountain Resort has partnered with Terry Elsemore, a New England-based resort developer who has created 18 other condominium resort projects in his 28-year career, predominantly slope-side resort hotels at major ski resorts throughout the Northeast.