Ofland halts Joshua Tree resort

A resort fight at the edge of Joshua Tree National Park just ended with the developer walking away. Ofland Hotels said on April 30 that it is halting Ofland Twentynine Palms, a planned outdoor hotel in the Indian Cove area of Twentynine Palms. That matters because this was not some vague concept sketch — the city had already approved it, neighbors had already sued, and the project had become a local symbol of how far tourism growth should go around the park. (kesq.com) ### What was Ofland trying to build? The project was big by local standards. City and state planning documents described a 100-room resort on a 152-acre site near Lear Avenue and Highway 62, with two lodges, pools and spas, food service, recreation areas, and 25 employee housing units. Only about 42 acres were sl(kesq.com)commercial foothold next to a park gateway neighborhood. (ceqanet.lci.ca.gov) ### Where was the flashpoint? Location was the whole story. The site sat in Twentynine Palms’ Indian Cove area, roughly half a mile from Joshua Tree National Park, in a part of town residents and conservation groups described as both a rural neighborhood edge and a wildlife corridor. Once you put a 100-room destination property there, the argument changes from “one project” to “what kind of border should a national park have?” (biologicaldiversity.org) ### Why did people fight it so hard? The lawsuit gives the clearest answer. The Center for Biological Diversity and Indian Cove Neighbors sued the city in August 2025, saying Twentynine Palms approved the resort without a full environmental review under the California Environ(biologicaldiversity.org) They specifically pointed to species like desert tortoises, burrowing owls, and American badgers. (biologicaldiversity.org) ### Didn’t the city already approve it? Yes — unanimously. The Twentynine Palms City Council approved the project on July 22, 2025, clearing the way with land-use changes and permits after a heated public process. That is why this week’s decision feels bigger than a normal ca(biologicaldiversity.org)nciled out. (kesq.com) ### So why did Ofland pull the plug? Ofland says the reason is market demand. Luke Searcy, the company’s head of development, said current market conditions did not justify the investment and that the company would shift attention to projects in Tennessee and Utah. KESQ also reported that city officials were told(kesq.com)ally exclusive — legal delay can make an already expensive resort look even less attractive. That last part is inference, but it fits the timeline. (kesq.com) ### Is this just one canceled resort? Not really. Joshua Tree’s gateway towns have been wrestling for years with a basic tension — tourism brings money, but the park’s appeal depends on the desert still feeling like desert. Ofland became a test case because it bundled luxury lodging, rezoning, traffic, and park-e(kesq.com)can fail if the economics and community backlash both turn against them. (biologicaldiversity.org) ### What happens now? For now, the immediate development threat at this site is gone. That does not settle the bigger question of how Twentynine Palms wants to grow, or how much resort infrastructure the Joshua Tree area can absorb before the thing visitors come for starts to erode. But it does remove one of the most visible projects on the board. (kesq.com) ### Bottom line? Ofland’s retreat is a clean, concrete win for the project’s opponents. More broadly, it shows how fragile park-edge resort plans can be — even after approvals are in hand — when the math, the politics, and the landscape all push back.