A glamorous vacation complex dotted with luxury igloo-like structures never materialized as promised on the small property near Glacier, where excited donors once imagined they’d get to stargaze surrounded by nature.
But the single concrete dome that came out of the ill-fated Oculis Lodge project isn’t sitting empty. Under new ownership, the rebranded Skyview Dome is on Airbnb and open for visitors at around $400 per night, as first reported by The Bellingham Herald.
Married couple Anna and Rudy Van Ry bought the property for $450,000 after an auction in early June. Anna Van Ry, in an interview, said the couple is “completely separate” from the dome’s former owner and that they don’t have big plans to further develop the property.
Developer Youri Benoiston raised $1.2 million for the 35-dome endeavor on crowdfunding website Indiegogo in 2022 — many times his original $10,000 goal. Backers paid hundreds of dollars each for the chance to stay in the domes advertised as dreamy getaways with saunas, jacuzzis and telescopes. The fundraising page assured them their reservations were safe.
Though Benoiston broke ground in early 2023, construction appeared to stall in the years after. Last year, he launched another crowdfunding effort on real estate investing platform Small Change, asking for another $1.2 million.
Only one dome was ever completed on the 2.16-acre property. Frustrated backers have filled the Indiegogo project’s comment section with complaints about not hearing from Benoiston and requests for refunds. Multiple people threatened to sue.
The state Attorney General’s office has received 10 complaints about the project since late 2023, a spokesperson for the office wrote in an email. The most recent update on the Indiegogo page is from September 2024 and said backers had been staying in the “prototype dome.”
“Refunds will be processed once we have the necessary resources,” the update said.
Indiegogo did not immediately respond to a message asking whether the platform offers protection against scams. However, the website’s “creator guidelines” note that the company may request refunds in cases of fraud.
Investor Manuel Villarreal, who lives in Minneapolis, said the project caught his attention because Benoiston claimed to be behind a similar development, the Igloo Beach Lodge in Costa Rica.
The Washington state location was also a draw for him, and he liked that the promotional material said the domes were going to be eco-friendly.
“I’m always open to any new thing,” Villarreal said. “So I just wanted to try it.”
He estimated he’d given around $1,600 or $1,700 to the project, which was supposed to guarantee him a multi-night stay. Villarreal is unlikely to get that money back.
In 2024, Benoiston wrote in an update to backers that Oculis Lodge was ready to start hosting the people who’d paid for stays. Villarreal inquired about dates he wanted to reserve.
“That was the last thing that I heard from them,” he said. Indiegogo told him the company couldn’t help him recover the lost funds when he reached out.
Emails sent to two addresses seemingly associated with the lodge in Costa Rica were not immediately returned.
In April 2025, Benoiston wrote on the Indiegogo page about the “unfortunate but necessary decision” to sell the property.
“Despite our initial momentum and rapid progress, the project has faced relentless defamation, constant sabotage, and even personal threats from the very beginning,” he wrote. He added that a start-up can’t “sustain itself while being used as fodder for media-fueled grievances.”
In a February 2025 email, Benoiston told Cascadia Daily News the company had issued about $80,000 in refunds already and said “many people” had already stayed in the dome. He did not respond to follow-up questions.
Benoiston did not respond to a request for comment sent Monday, March 16.
In January 2025, a Cascadia Daily News reporting team encountered an uneven dirt road leading to the property, and large dogs barking at the reporter’s car and running unleashed nearby.
Van Ry, a registered nurse, said she “went down every rabbit hole” researching the property before she and her husband bought it. They checked that the dome had been built up to code, she said.
It was in good condition when they took it over, she said, though the well’s pump needed replacing. Prior to the sale, nobody had been occupying the property, she said.
The Van Rys’ Airbnb listing notes the dome is “not luxury,” but says they’ve made it “as cozy as possible.” It warns that the gravel road leading to the dome has large potholes and roaming dogs that belong to a neighbor.
Guests have been staying at the dome since November, and the Airbnb page shows glowing reviews.
Van Ry and her husband’s plan is to keep the dome as it is for the time being, she said, noting they’ve not yet decided if they will pursue more development in the future.
“We don’t plan on building 10 structures of anything on the property,” she said. That “doesn’t sound relaxing for anybody, whether it’s the people staying there or the surrounding neighbors.”
The couple has heard from one person who gave money to the Indiegogo campaign, who asked if they knew of a way to get a refund. Van Ry told the person she didn’t. She feels for people who lost money, but has no idea what Benoiston plans to do with the proceeds from the auction, she said.
Honoring the Oculis Lodge reservations made through that campaign isn’t financially feasible, she said. But she noted the couple would be “happy to accommodate” if Benoiston wanted to pay for backers to come and stay.
Sophia Gates covers rural Whatcom and Skagit counties. She is a Washington State Murrow Fellow whose work is underwritten by taxpayers and available outside CDN's paywall. Reach her at sophiagates@cascadiadaily.com; 360-922-3090 ext. 131.
