The Quirie Family, new owners of the Lure Resort, located one mile east of Downieville on SR-49.

If you have recently driven up Hwy 49 just past Downieville, you might have noticed the for-sale signs at The Lure Resort are gone. After purchasing the property in 2018, the owners, Lost Sierra Development LLC, have recently sold the historic property.

In operation since the 1940s, the 16-cabin resort offers eight full-amenity cabins and eight camping cabins set on 74 acres along the North Yuba River. However, this was not always the case. 2018 marked the first time the entirety of the property was under one owner since the 1950s. When Lost Sierra Development acquired the property, they reunited the upper and lower properties.

Settled soon after Major William Downie arrived in Downieville, The Lure property was known as Breyfogle Flat, with the upper Slate Castle Ranch property known as Hardy Ranch. Since the early 1850s, The Lure property has had multiple sawmills and gold prospecting operations, and then starting in the 1940s, the establishment of vacation cabins. The Lure name was born sometime in the 1960s and has welcomed guests to the North Yuba River for multiple generations.

Lost Sierra Development was formed in 2018 by several members of the Sierra Buttes Trail Stewardship. When Lost Sierra Development acquired the property in 2018, they made a substantial investment in modernizing the cabins and the infrastructure on the property after years of deferred maintenance. One of the main goals of the partnership was to create an event space on the upper meadow, however, the USFS requirement to upgrade the existing bridge to accommodate larger fire trucks to access the property proved to be too costly. Adding in the economic downturn from COVID and fire scares over the past couple of years, the ownership decided it was time to sell.

The new owners, Matt & Mireya Quirie, took over ownership in early November. They are excited to take stewardship of this beautiful property and are still formulating their longer-term plans. In the meantime, they plan to take the summer to fully explore their options with plans to open the 16 cabins to the public in early Fall.

Current residents of Fairfax in Marin, Matt grew up in San Francisco and Mireya grew up in the Bay Area. Able to work remotely, they plan to transition to spend much more time here in Sierra County along with their 19-year-old and 13-year-old daughters. Matt is an online marketing executive who recently sold his company and is overseeing the transition.

The Quiries are huge outdoor enthusiasts who love camping, rock climbing, music, and water sports. Their stated goal is to make the property an outdoor experience for the community within the Downieville area and bring in more visitors beyond just the mountain biking community. They are passionate about providing outdoor education opportunities and are also exploring how best to reintroduce agriculture to the meadow that a very long time ago provided food for the Downieville community.

The Quiries have been coming up to the Yuba River for over 27 years, actively looking for just the right property for the past 10 years. One of their close friends was an investor in Lost Sierra Development and alerted them to the opportunity which they quickly jumped on. While they haven’t made any decisions yet, they are investigating whether to replace the bridge to open up the meadow for larger events.

While the resort will not be open to the public this summer, local businesses can be assured that the property will not be vacant as they plan to fill cabins with friends and family to help fuel the local economy. They have not decided on a name for the property yet, but they want it to reflect providing a year-round experience, so stay tuned for exciting new developments.