FORT COLLINS - About 200 office workers will go to work in a redeveloped downtown Fort Collins building as the result of a merger announced Sept. 13 by two major players in the destination club industry.

Private Escapes, a Fort Collins-based company founded by repeat entrepreneur Richard Keith, and Ultimate Resort Inc. of Orlando, Fla., will pool assets consisting mostly of resort properties and memberships in a deal that makes the combined business the second-largest company in the industry. The company will have 1,200 members and access to 140 luxury properties in 50 of the world's most desirable resort destinations.

"This is a business of scalability," Keith said. "The big will get bigger. It's a given."

The merger also makes Colorado the hub of the industry, with Denver-based Exclusive Resorts - the "800-pound gorilla" of the sector, Keith said - the No. 1 player with 3,000 members.

"Between the two of us, by the time this is done, we'll control 85 to 90 percent of the market," he said.

Ultimate Resort owners agreed to make Fort Collins the headquarters location for the merged companies following a visit to the city earlier this year. It means that a building at 145 Mountain Ave., the former home of the Fort Collins Coloradoan daily newspaper and, most recently, Tailgate Tommy's bar and restaurant, will house one of Old Town's largest employers.

"This couldn't be better," said developer Chris Ray, who spent more than $1 million remodeling the 14,000-square-foot building with an eye toward bringing in multiple office, retail and restaurant tenants. "To have a single user, and have it not be a restaurant, is the best possible outcome."

Ray has plans for another building on the site, just west of the redevelopment, and Keith said he had already asked for a right of first refusal on that space, anticipating that the merger will result in more growth and more jobs.

New employees will earn between $30,000 and $125,000 annually, Keith said. Many will fill roles as "escape planners," those who tend to the details of getting members to their resort destinations. Those positions will pay "$40,000-plus," he said.

The destination club industry targets people in the highest income reaches, with memberships starting at just over $100,000 annually but, depending on service levels, ascending to as much as $350,000.

For that, members get access to luxury homes in dozens of resort locations. The affluent "nomadic" travelers, as Keith calls them, are people for whom a second home alone does not offer sufficient variety.

"We have people who want to spend a long weekend in New York, seeing a few plays, and then, later, going off to a golf vacation in Los Cabos or skiing at Beaver Creek," Keith said.

The company will spend the remainder of the year outfitting the new headquarters, including improvements to the 2,500-square-foot rooftop sundeck.

"We're going to design a really wonderful work environment for our employees," Keith said. "From there, we'll be operating all our hospitality services, real estate services, sales and marketing. They will grow exponentially based upon the success of the company."