Vancouver Island’s Mount Washington Ski Resort has been sold to U.S. interests, and Mount Baldy Ski Resort in the southern Okanagan might be close to finding a buyer.
Pacific Group Resorts of Park City, Utah, bought Mount Washington, the Island’s only alpine ski resort.
The sale includes all of the resort’s ski and recreational operations as well as most of the development land near and around its base. The resort is about 30 kilometres from Comox. The purchase price was not released.
Mount Washington’s current ownership group, George Stuart and his partners, will retain two prime development parcels.
“Over the past 25 years, George Stuart and his ownership group have invested a tremendous amount of money and energy into Mount Washington,” said Peter Gibson, president and general manager of Mount Washington Alpine Resort. “We are indebted to them for what they have helped us build here. Now it’s their time to retire from the ski business, and we’re pretty pleased with the group they have chosen to sell to.”
Mount Washington will be the fourth resort in Pacific Group Resort’s current portfolio.
Gibson said his team is looking forward to working with the new owners “to take Mount Washington to the next level with improvements like snowmaking, where they have a strong background.”
This could prove important: Mount Washington was forced to close early last season due to a lack of snow.
Meanwhile, the broker trying to sell the Mount Baldy Ski Resort, which is in foreclosure, is confident a sale is imminent.
“We should know in two weeks,” said Gary Powroznik of Vancouver’s G-Force Group Inc.
In a statement, Powroznik said an earlier bid for the resort “was not acceptable to the primary secured creditor or the receiver.”
The foreclosure action was taken by U.S.-based Stark BC Venture, LLC, a secured creditor. In documents issued by the British Columbia Supreme Court in 2014, Stark BC claimed it was owed more than $4.4 million by Mount Baldy Real Estate, ULC, Winter Recreation, ULC and Mount Baldy Ski Corp.
