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HowieT2
10-12-2008, 08:16 PM
So, what's the news? Flatlanders want to know. TIA

Lostone
10-12-2008, 09:51 PM
The big surprise was that the story about the cat skiing is that there will actually be real cats skiing, this season. :lol:


I'll leave it to others to give most of the info on the presentation, as I got in late, because our condo meeting is that morning.

Big thing I heard was that they are planning on going ahead with the guest services, this spring. Drawings on what they plan were placed around the Gatehouse.

Big celebrations for Sugarbush's birthday are being scheduled.


But the real thing you missed was a glorious weekend! Temperatures were in the mid to high 60s and there were more people on the mountain than I've ever seen, without them carrying skis. :wink:

Everyone had a smile! 08-09 passholders were getting free lift rides and there was a ton of people hiking up and down on the mountain with people everywhere, on bikes, the zip line and playing disc golf. Pix in a while, but I'm still working on Friday's pix. :roll:

Hawk
10-13-2008, 09:11 AM
The interesting points that I took away from the presentation were:
- There is a new layout for the GS building. New as far as it was the first time I heard of it. It will now be several buildings with a new landscape layout with walkways plazas.
- They are building a "Sugar Shack" style building at the bottom of the beginners area that will be a place that parents can gather and watch their kids. They are also building a fire pit there so people can stay warm and chat with others.
- There will be a new Coffee Hut!!!!! Yup coffee and esspresso! My personel afternoon favorite.
- Win spoke about the details on the financing and how they were going to build this. Something about imigrants and green cards but I missed it because someone was talking next to me. Some one else can elaborate.
- No word on when the VH work will happen.
- No word about the new Mt. Ellen Mogul Programs..... :wink:

Tin Woodsman
10-13-2008, 10:29 AM
The interesting points that I took away from the presentation were:
- There is a new layout for the GS building. New as far as it was the first time I heard of it. It will now be several buildings with a new landscape layout with walkways plazas.
- They are building a "Sugar Shack" style building at the bottom of the beginners area that will be a place that parents can gather and watch their kids. They are also building a fire pit there so people can stay warm and chat with others.
- There will be a new Coffee Hut!!!!! Yup coffee and esspresso! My personel afternoon favorite.
- Win spoke about the details on the financing and how they were going to build this. Something about imigrants and green cards but I missed it because someone was talking next to me. Some one else can elaborate.
- No word on when the VH work will happen.
- No word about the new Mt. Ellen Mogul Programs..... :wink:

Good stuff. Let's here from the man himself for those of us who weren't able to make it? Who's got my phatty renderings? Breaking it into multiple structures with a fire pit etc.. seems a lot more homey and Sugarbush-y to me. It's also important that they try to break up the visual massiveness of Clay Brook, which sort of sticks out like a sore thumb when you drive up. If they've got multiple structures extending to the North towards SB Village, that helps to accomplish that.

As for the financing aspect, that sounds like the same EB-5 program that Jay Peak is using to finance their new base area construction. Basically, if you invest $500K in certain projects in the US, that gets you on the fast track to a green card and citizenship. No pun intended, but it seems like a win/win situation, with both sides getting what they want or need. Economists would argue that the citizenship incentive distorts investment flows, enabling projects like this to get funded whereas they may not do so if left to the market alone. That may have long-term consequences of overbuilding base village capacity in VT, but who knows if that issue will ever really crop up. Regardless, sounds like there will be some new accents in and around the mountain going forward. Always a good thing to have international flair, unless they're drunken Aussies. :lol:

win
10-13-2008, 10:50 AM
Thanks to all of you who came up to the mountain this past weekend. It was the nicest Columbus Day weekend that I can remember, and we had a huge turnout both Saturday and Sunday and more families with young children than I have ever seen here.

Yes, it is EB-5, and we have been working on this for the past year. The investors are not necessarily users. They are primarily interested in getting a qucker green card and then citizenship and a reasonable return on their investment. There are two qualified projects in Vermont - us and Jay Peak - and several others around the USA. A project has to demonstrate that it is either savings direct and indirect jobs or creating them. If anyone is interested in more details, you can log onto the Immigration Service website and read about EB-5. In this time of tight credit, EB-5 is a nice option to have to allow us to proceed with the next phase. We are also partnering with The Atira Group from Colorado who are helping us with the masterplan, construction managment and sales of our remaining Clay Brook units and the next one to be built. I picked them because of their experience, but more importantly because they really understand what we are trying to do here and appreciate the special place that we have. And, they are also all skiers and have been with me around the mountain.

Clay Brook was always the first phase and built with the next phase in mind. I personally like the smaller buildings and skier services village concept a lot better than what was first contemplated. We have the concept plans, now we have to cost it out and make sure it works, but there are likely to be some modifications as we work towards final construction drawing over the next couple of months.

The Castlerock expansion is on schedule and the nice weather of the past two weeks has really helped.

HowieT2
10-13-2008, 11:29 AM
Thanks to all of you who came up to the mountain this past weekend. It was the nicest Columbus Day weekend that I can remember, and we had a huge turnout both Saturday and Sunday and more families with young children than I have ever seen here.

Yes, it is EB-5, and we have been working on this for the past year. The investors are not necessarily users. They are primarily interested in getting a qucker green card and then citizenship and a reasonable return on their investment. There are two qualified projects in Vermont - us and Jay Peak - and several others around the USA. A project has to demonstrate that it is either savings direct and indirect jobs or creating them. If anyone is interested in more details, you can log onto the Immigration Service website and read about EB-5. In this time of tight credit, EB-5 is a nice option to have to allow us to proceed with the next phase. We are also partnering with The Atira Group from Colorado who are helping us with the masterplan, construction managment and sales of our remaining Clay Brook units and the next one to be built. I picked them because of their experience, but more importantly because they really understand what we are trying to do here and appreciate the special place that we have. And, they are also all skiers and have been with me around the mountain.

Clay Brook was always the first phase and built with the next phase in mind. I personally like the smaller buildings and skier services village concept a lot better than what was first contemplated. We have the concept plans, now we have to cost it out and make sure it works, but there are likely to be some modifications as we work towards final construction drawing over the next couple of months.

The Castlerock expansion is on schedule and the nice weather of the past two weeks has really helped.

Once again, it sounds like a sound management approach to improving SB for the long term. I hope you'll keep us informed, as this is interesting stuff and sure beats reading the NYTimes right now. Good luck.
As for EB-5, not sure it's the best policy philosophically, but if it's there and it works, you have to do it. What difference does it make to us where the capital comes from as long as it comes.
On a personal note, it would be really nice to have some form of seasonal storage/locker room/club at the base.

Also, was there any information about the plans for the new cat?

djd66
10-13-2008, 03:48 PM
found this link on the web:

http://www.eb5sugarbush.com/PhaseII.html

Any chance there is an up to date site plan out there that we can look at? How many buildings are in the works for construction this spring?