What we see every day plays a huge role in our motivation, desire, and intention. It’s the reason that sayings like “the eyes are the window to the soul” and “a picture is worth a thousand words” exist. It’s also why automakers choose their press-photo locations so carefully.
Perhaps someone at Nissan missed the memo but it turns out that the automaker chose the exact same photo-shoot location for its new Armada that Jeep did a while back for the Grand Wagoneer. That location is a house in Park City, Utah.
This secluded property is currently on sale for $15,950,000. Don’t worry if you don’t have that kind of scratch though, you can rent it for just $19,739 a night.
Positioned at 209 White Pine Canyon Rd, this stunning mansion has six bedrooms, seven bathrooms, and a total of 7,800 square feet along with a 4.43-acre lot that is described as “ski-in/ski-out.” The listing on VRBO even describes one feature as a “super hip wet bar, perfect for your après adventure gatherings.” I feel richer just having read that.
Before we dive too deeply into the house itself though let’s chat about the two cars that shined a spotlight on it. First, Jeep launched the Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer with several photos of the SUVs at this house. This was noticed by Mike Klotz, who tweeted about it.
Appropriately, Jeep photographed the house and the SUVs at an appropriate time of year when snow covered the ground and some of the roof. It looks cozy and posh and also hints at the ski-centric locale that so many affluent folks know well.
Nissan seems to have decided to film during the earliest parts of spring or the end of summer maybe? It looks like it was possibly shot during press launch days. The tree there appears quite thin, clearly it’s bright and sunny out, and frankly, the lighting looks a bit harsh on the Armadas in question.
[Ed Note: Super inside baseball alert: In my last job I produced a number of these types of shoots, and what is supposed to happen is the photo/video team gets a day or two before the press is invited so they can deliver very detailed photos under ideal lighting conditions. That’s what’s supposed to happen. Sometimes you get thrown in with the journalists and get 20 minutes to “figure it out.” – MH]
For now, we’ll just say that at least Nissan picked a very nice location that its direct competition just so happened to get to far ahead of time. That feels like a strange decision, but there are only so many hotels/houses in the kinds of places where automakers tend to do these launches.
Put it this way, you can try and outdo these photos yourself by renting the same house at whatever time of year you want. Located in a private cul-de-sac, the front door opens up into a living room with an adjacent chef’s kitchen. The heated three-car garage has its own separate entrance and a door into the main home.
There are a pair of owner’s suites on the main floor of the home along with a private gym and a separate gear room. The second level features four more bedrooms along with another large living room and an office. The exterior is just as luxurious as the rest of the home. It offers a hot tub, a large fireplace, and a barbeque grill.
It’s a gorgeous location that no doubt offers all of the amenities one might for a long weekend or week of skiing or in the case of Jeep and Nissan, taking photos of very expensive SUVs. We’re currently putting together a collection at The Autopian so we can have Thomas take photos of the Aztek there. We’re just $19,712 short.
All Photos: Nissan, Jeep, Park City MLS
I can see the plot of the next Lifetime/Hallmark movie now:
Successful pretty girl, working at an ad agency, rents a big rustic house in her small home town for a car commercial – when her former-crush from grade school, who never left town and runs his own landscaping business (between sessions with his personal trainer, nutritionist and cosmetic dentist), walks into the critical last shot without a shirt because it became entangled on a big rustic tree branch….
Even better, the girl and her former crush both reserve the house for their respective car photoshoots, but shocker! By a mistake, they end up with reservations for the same day! Chaos of course ensues.
…what in tarnation is that weird square tub shape? It almost looks like it was supposed to drop into a tile surround, except the angle of the side looks wrong. I know there’s some wide-angle lens tomfoolery afoot there, but also, why would you make a freestanding tub with corners to kneecap yourself with?!
I will begrudgingly admit that the house is kind of neat, though. One of the kids’ rooms even has a loft: https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/209-White-Pine-Canyon-Rd-Park-City-UT-84060/110283318_zpid/?
Do you have any idea how many Puffalumps I would parachute off of that bad boy? Even as an adult?
Ok. I love the ski-donning room. However, the colour scheme isn’t great and I don’t feel like painting so I won’t be buying this house.
Yeah, painting, pfft. I won’t be buying it either now that you pointed this out.
Imagine paying almost 20K for one night, check in is at 3PM, you have to leave by 11AM the next day, taking the garbage out and leaving everything how it was or you get blasted on /airbnb_hosts lol
If this house is rented at that rate for 150 days per year the gross income would be $2,960,850. Taking out a standard 10 percent for vacancy and credit losses and a wild-ass guess (or should that be a wild ass-guess?) of another 10 percent for expenses (since these are short-term rentals, presumably the rental terms are full service with all utilities and janitorial included) provides an estimated net operating income of $2,368,680, for a cap rate of 14.85 percent on the full sale price. Even with only 100 days’ worth of rental income and 30 percent knocked off for expenses and credit and vacancy losses (and that 10 percent is pretty high given that this would be a daily rental), the cap rare is 8.66 percent before the cost of credit.
Which means The Autopian should totally buy the house! There will have to be an arm’s length arrangement with the management agency to avoid the appearance of any conflict of interest, so any press junkets will involve travel in a windowless van that will also serve as your humble correspondent’s lodging (appearance avoidance and all), but Beau won’t even need to concern himself with borrowing costs and the returns will be an additional source of revenue!
While the house is very nice, having to then deal with the rich locals anytime I had to go into town would drive me crazy. I’ll pass.
Drive the Aztek to Portland and do a shoot in Cathedral Park, where they did the Saturn Outlook launch brochure
Came back to comment that knowing the type of people who own this price level of house, they aren’t driving a Nissan Armada there. (Aside: I work on this kind of property as an architect). Usually they keep a couple of cars in the garage for when they visit and they are almost always either Tahoes/Suburbans or something German. Possibly a Jeep, but I highly doubt the Armada.
I figured for a house costing $16mm they’ve got an Escalade or for the more “stealth” type a Landcruiser. I could also see a Denali though I feel like the Escalade took a lot of its cachet.
I’m actually surprised they even bothered getting a real location rather than doing some sort of Unreal Engine model and superimposing photos in post production. At $20k a day though it might be cheaper to just rent the property than paying 3d artists to generate that level of detail.
There may have been some-type biz-jet rides and party at the location included in the situation for those in the corporation so entitled.
“Perhaps someone at Nissan missed the memo but it turns out that the automaker chose the exact same photo-shoot location for its new Armada that Jeep did a while back for the Grand Wagoneer.”
Yeah, but it’s the Armada and the Wagoneer, so nobody’s going to care.
Anyone else yearning to understand how y’all came up with $27? I didn’t know the site was run by Rockefellers.
I’ll have to pass on this one because the driveway isn’t big enough to land my helicopter.
I wonder what it costs to heat that place.
Eastbound lanes of the Coronado bridge in San Diego were closed from 10AM to 6PM yesterday for an Infinity car-commercial photo op.
Ron Burgundy in town?
I’d be so pissed!
at least show a picture of the wet bar. I assume it’s this:
https://media.vrbo.com/lodging/46000000/45420000/45417100/45417055/9b40835a.jpg
Should there be another verb or something in there?
Really? The “Ridiculously Expensive” thing is going to cost me*? That’s crazy.
* Not actually me. Possibly someone else.