Reed Hastings, the founder of Netflix, is building a 2,100-acre retreat at the foothills of the Rocky Mountains that will be dedicated to training public school teachers, Recode reports.
Hastings is personally overseeing the creation of Retreat Land at Lone Rock, a new training center he is building and financing for school teachers, according to Recode. Education is a cause the former teacher has put himself behind.
Recode reports he has spent more than $20 million on this project.
Recode said he and his wife have been visiting the site where the facility will be built since 2017. They have had in person meetings with a local fire chief to go over permitting.
Hastings has not publicly announced his involvement in the project and declined to comment on plans via a spokesperson.
Public records filed with Park County, Colorado officials, show plans to open the center could take place as early as March 2021.
"The proposed Conference and Retreat Facility will be run as a nonprofit institute serving the public education community’s development of teachers and leadership," a Hastings aide writes in one prospectus.
One group that is expected to have access to the facility is the Pahara Institute, which operates a networking group and training program for activists and teachers aligned with the education-reform movement.
Hastings serves on the Pahara Institute board and donates money.
Pahara was looking to buy land before Hastings decided to do it himself, said Dave Crane, a real estate broker who secured the deal and gave Hastings a tour of the property.
A person familiar with Hasting's plans for the retreat said it will function as a place for leadership retreats for teachers, principals, and nonprofit heads. It will be open to both educators at traditional district public schools and those at charter schools.
Another document indicates that overlapping groups of 30 educators at a time can stay in the 270-room center for four-day stints.
When complete, the center will feature three "villages" that include meeting rooms, a spa with saunas and hot tubs, man-made hot springs, and a lodge with a wine cellar and yoga deck, according to mock-ups filed with the county government.
The project has been kept under wraps and many locals voiced concerns about the large project. Due to nondisclosure agreements, many are unaware of Hastings ties to the development. A federal tax filing lists Hastings as president of the Lone Rock Foundation.
"The reaction to this was primarily negative," John Deagan, who oversaw the permitting process told Recode. "Some people just want to stop developments. That's what the attitude was with this one."
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