If it doesn't look strange to you, then Frank Gehry isn't doing his job.

But the world-renowned architect of the Guggenheim in Bilbao, Spain, and the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, promises to design a mixed-use development in Lehi that won't be a "King Kong show-off" or an "eyesore for the community."

And Gehry wants lots of local community feedback on the study models he and his team will present at future City Council meetings.

"The idea of doing something special architecturally means it will look weird when you first see it," Gehry, 77, told a group of business and political leaders at a private luncheon at Thanksgiving Point on Friday.

"But we won't build something that people won't buy into. It's subtle how culture translates into architecture. And there is a culture in Utah."

"I'm not a prima donna," said Gehry, who is based in Los Angeles. "I want to show models, study models so you can question, even complain. The input of a community is what makes it more relevant and exciting for me.

"These projects are not runaway trains. There's a lot of budget control and we will be respectful of financial constraints," Gehry said. "We usually develop 40 to 50 study models, exhausting all possibilities. You will see what we accepted, what we rejected, so you'll understand the trajectory of thinking."

The proposed project -- financed by Brandt Andersen, a Provo entrepreneur and majority owner of the NBA Development League for Utah -- will include a 12,000-seat arena, a five-star hotel, high-end shopping, restaurants, offices, a wakeboarding lake, and a massive residential community.

Andersen could not immediately specify the cost of construction, but said it will be "one of the most substantial real estate investments" in Utah.

Sitting on 85 acres on the east side of Interstate 15 south of Point of the Mountain and north of Cabela's and the proposed Terrace at Traverse Mountain lifestyle center in Lehi, the project, including land rezoning, is now pending city approval. Further details will be announced on Jan. 31.

Calling the site a "blank canvas," Gehry said he is inspired by what he called a "Utah landscape quality, the big flat spaces that relate to the mountains."

"There's a quiet quality I like. It will be intriguing to figure out how to emulate that," said Gehry, a frequent Deer Valley skier.

Other factors that made the Lehi project appealing was the quality of Andersen's vision and the apparent absence of "big city bureaucracy," Gehry said.

"We've turned down projects that sounded very interesting to do in favor of things that we can accomplish that will be new and different. It always boils down to the people you're working with."

"Brandt seems to have a good sense of community. He is not Donald Trump. There's a modesty and a megalomaniac visionary quality I like about him," Gehry said.

Andersen says he hopes this project will help bridge the division between Salt Lake and Utah Counties.

"This project will be a uniting force between Salt Lake County and Utah County. It will combine a sports lifestyle and healthy living," he said.

"This site is probably the most recognizable piece of property left on the Wasatch Front. It doesn't seem appropriate putting a mediocre residential community on that property."

While the project may have stoked much public interest, a lot has not been revealed yet, said Joel Racker, president of the Utah Valley Convention and Visitors Bureau and one of the participants of Friday's luncheon.

"We want to know who they're targeting for the project, when it'll be done, which hotel developer they will engage, how much conference and meeting space will be available," he said.

Lehi City Administrator Jamie Davidson agreed, saying he's not familiar enough with the project's concept and the site yet to provide projections of potential traffic generated by the project.

"But Frank Gehry's structures are always big regional draws," he said.

Still, his work provokes extreme reactions and isn't always understood and accepted, at least in the beginning. When he built the Guggenheim, there was a candlelight protest against him by 300 people in northern Spain, he said.

"But now I can live for free in Bilbao," he quipped. "Hopefully, I'll get the same reception here in Utah, except for the candlelight procession."

This story appeared in The Daily Herald on page A1.