Re: 7/8 visit to base

[win]

Smootharc,

These buildings are partially permitted but only conceptually designed. The first will replace the interim village and will house ski & ride, day care, rentals, repairs, tickets and may also have some locker space for employees and the guests and possbile additional food service. (It had previously been referred to as the Family Center). The other buildings are potential additional retail space & slopeside condos. This site plan is a concept of what Lincoln Peak Village could look like in a few years.

[smootharc]

Smootharc,

These buildings are partially permitted but only conceptually designed. The first will replace the interim village and will house ski & ride, day care, rentals, repairs, tickets and may also have some locker space for employees and the guests and possbile additional food service. (It had previously been referred to as the Family Center). The other buildings are potential additional retail space & slopeside condos. This site plan is a concept of what Lincoln Peak Village could look like in a few years.

...they would all look very nice, in my opinion, and would increase the whole shebang's "villagy" feel. Is there such a thing as a "Starbucks/Eastern Mountain Sports/Barnes & Noble" combo retail store that could move in? First double-choco-whippachino-frappe-skinny-latte's are on me, everybody....

[noski]

...they would all look very nice, in my opinion, and would increase the whole shebang's "villagy" feel. Is there such a thing as a "Starbucks/Eastern Mountain Sports/Barnes & Noble" combo retail store that could move in? First double-choco-whippachino-frappe-skinny-latte's are on me, everybody....

Ouch, CHAINS????? How about 3 Mtn Cafe/Inverness/Tempest???? (sorry, I am programmed for that kneejerk reaction )

[smootharc]

...they would all look very nice, in my opinion, and would increase the whole shebang's "villagy" feel. Is there such a thing as a "Starbucks/Eastern Mountain Sports/Barnes & Noble" combo retail store that could move in? First double-choco-whippachino-frappe-skinny-latte's are on me, everybody....

Ouch, CHAINS????? How about 3 Mtn Cafe/Inverness/Tempest???? (sorry, I am programmed for that kneejerk reaction )

...you forget that I'm programmed to foment dissention (with foment being today's SAT word).

But, you are correct, the chains are evil, and they are all owned by a Halliburton shell company anyways. Perhaps an independent bookshop/cafe like that great, huge one in Manchester would be better. It's an island of wonderfulness in that sea of outlet store madness. I actually fell asleep in their upstairs wi-fi lounge once, awaking to my wife's nudge and concerned look. Hey, I've got three kids (they were with her, don't ask how I managed that) and I hadn't had enough sugar/caffeine...

[Tin Woodsman]

Total Gate House Lodge is just under 24,000 square feet. The second floor cafeteria will have seating for at least 400 in comparison to the "Old" lodge and tent that had 250 seats. Because of the high ceilings it is going to look even larger. The new Castle Rock Pub will have additional lunch seats of 80-100 and Timbers will have approximately 150. That is a nice increase over what existed in both the old Gate House and The Valley House. As I previously mentioned, there will not be any served food service in the Valley House, but the cafeteria will be open and heated. It can be used and there will be quite a few vending machines for drinks, candy and other food. The Mushroom will be available for private functions and catered if desired. The bathrooms down stairs will also be open to all. The Wunderbar space is being used by Pizzagalli until all punch list items have been completed.

Win -

The 250 seat number for the old GH lodge - did that include the seating in the old Castlerock Pub? I'm just trying to get an apples to apples comparison here.

Can I assume that you'll go ahead with the complete demolition of the VH Lodge only when you've completed the planned Skier Services bldg. IOW, do you believe the new GH lodge and Timbers have sufficient space to tide you over in case VH goes away without the Skier Services Bldg coming on line?

[Tin Woodsman]

Smootharc,

These buildings are partially permitted but only conceptually designed. The first will replace the interim village and will house ski & ride, day care, rentals, repairs, tickets and may also have some locker space for employees and the guests and possbile additional food service. (It had previously been referred to as the Family Center). The other buildings are potential additional retail space & slopeside condos. This site plan is a concept of what Lincoln Peak Village could look like in a few years.

Presumably, further investment in bricks and mortar like that is dependant upon successful execution of the Claybrook project. That said, having a row od tastefully designed strctures lining the north end of the parking lot like that would certainly be a big improvement, IMHO, over the current, rather barren, setting. Moreover, it would represent a real opportunity to connect SB to the SB Village in a way that's never been done before.

And to clarify, I had been under the impression that you had in fact received full Act 250 approval for the ex-Family Services Center (have a new working name yet?). However, it's late arrival from the govt last off-season forced you to re-order the development of the base area - correct? I'm just trying to get a sense of whether that facility is now on the back burner, or whether SB is still fully committed to building it (assuming satisfactory sales of Claybrook).

[win]

We are partial to local businesses too, but we are always going to focus on what our guests want and need. We are definitely planning to do the second lodge. Originally we were going to do this one first and Gate House second, but after further thought it made more sense to do the Gate House first and complete that part of the base area. Valley House is really insurance this year. Whether we bring it down next summer or the following will really depend on this winter's experience. We are still using it for employees. Ski & Ride lockers are there as are our marketing and finance teammates, so we need alternative space before it comes down.

We are partially permitted, but do have to go back with final renderings once the details of the buildings have been finalized which should not be an issue.

Yes. the 250 is apples to apples. Remember how narrow the Gate House seating was in the middle because of the cafeteria!

One update, Pizzagallie has decided to finish some more site work before the Timbers start going up, so they will now start the week after next but still be completed as scheduled.

[HowieT2]

Thanks for addressing my concerns. I'm glad to hear everything is on schedule ( and refreshed with anticipation of skiing in a few months even though it's 100 degrees today)

[KingM]

I think the project is coming along nicely and I like the plans going forward. I'm just a little confused as to what is in the "definite" category, what is in the, "we're serious but aren't ready to move forward," category and what is in the, "hopefully, we'll do this some day," category. Are you set for another round of construction for next year or are you still waiting to see how things go?

[win]

I am a bit superstitious so I hesitate to ever say "definite". We decided to more in phases for practical reasons. When Claybrook is substantially sold, we are going to finalize the plans for the second lodge and additional condominium units which is what will make the second lodge work financially. Our plan called for it to be substantially sold by the end of this ski season. As I mentioned we already have some good preliminary plans and partial permitting for the second lodge and condos. I would want, as we did for Claybrook, to see a reasonable amount of pre-sales before we began construction. We also have to time it so that construction of a lodge begins in the Spring after the ski season and is ready for the next season. Given all of that, my best guess is that this will happen in the summer of 2008. (I would love to have this happen in the summer of 2007, if it could). If this is done successfull, we will continue to finalize the village with some additional condos and retail space, so it completes the rendering on the website. Sorry I can't be more definitive, but when I can I will.

When this first phase is done, virtually all of the major site work in the base area and parking lots will be completed, so the next phases will be much less complicated and disruptive.

[Tin Woodsman]

I am a bit superstitious so I hesitate to ever say "definite". We decided to more in phases for practical reasons. When Claybrook is substantially sold, we are going to finalize the plans for the second lodge and additional condominium units which is what will make the second lodge work financially. Our plan called for it to be substantially sold by the end of this ski season. As I mentioned we already have some good preliminary plans and partial permitting for the second lodge and condos. I would want, as we did for Claybrook, to see a reasonable amount of pre-sales before we began construction. We also have to time it so that construction of a lodge begins in the Spring after the ski season and is ready for the next season. Given all of that, my best guess is that this will happen in the summer of 2008. (I would love to have this happen in the summer of 2007, if it could). If this is done successfull, we will continue to finalize the village with some additional condos and retail space, so it completes the rendering on the website. Sorry I can't be more definitive, but when I can I will.

When this first phase is done, virtually all of the major site work in the base area and parking lots will be completed, so the next phases will be much less complicated and disruptive.

Win -

Thanks for clarifying. That is some of what I was trying to get to with my previous questions. Is the inclusion of a residential component into the second lodge a new feature of this structure? I had been under the impression that it was solely skier services and some retail. Has there been any change to the primary mission for that building being the concentration of all family/skier services into one facility? Also, should the subsequent phases take place, would you foresee any significant level of cooperation with the SB Village so as to integrate everything into a greater whole? Or is it simply too early to speculate?

[win]

Tin,

This really is in early stage of design. We had always planned for some more residential units done in stages. Whether or not they are actually physically part of the same building or apart is not decided yet. When we went through zoning last year we showed a concept for the Guest Services lodge (ski& ride, guest services, day care, rental and repair, retail, etc.) and additional residential units. That will still happen. It is just the final design that needs to be determined. Unltimately, I would like to connect our "new" village with the original Sugarbush Village and bring (or return ) vitality to both. We also want to make sure that the residences in the original village still have ski on and ski off access and that the aesthetics work. You probably know that the original village is not one voice. It is a bunch of separate condo associations. These once was a village association, and they are a couple of people working to put that idea together again. We own only part of one building which houses our Claybrook Sales office, the Day Care Center and some small condo units we use for employee housing on the second floor. Stop by someday and I would be pleased to show you some of the concept possibilities. As I said earlier, we do want to take one step at a time, but we do have an overall vision of where we want to be in the future. Claybrook is unique in that it will be the premier address of the units built at Lincoln Peak Village. Hope this helps

[Tin Woodsman]

Win -

Thanks for the detail. Sounds like you guys are taking a wait and see approach to let the market guide you w/r/t staging and composition of subsequent structures. That's a smart approach, though I"m sure you don't need me to tell you that.

I'm glad to hear that there is thought being put into how you can eventually harmonize what you're doing with what exists in the SB Village and perhaps add 1+1 to equal 3. One of the problems that some of your younger customers might see in SB is that there's no "there" there. This is an asset in many respects as well, b/c the MRV retains its laid back, rural mountain charm in contrast to other places to the North and South. That said, to a certain extent you need to appeal to your emerging and future customers. To the extent that you can bring vitality to a new and larger village core, that would extremely beneficial, IMHO. And it likely wouldn't have much if any impact on the restaurants and businesses throughout the Valley either. Different strokes for different folks.

At some point, I'd love to take you up on that offer.

[win]

I'll await your call!

[Lostone]

Speaking of Claybrook, I see the silo portion's outside is brown. Is that an intermediate color, going to the red, or is that portion to remain brown?

I think the brown looks good. I think I like that more than the red. That might just be me, being partial to wood grains.

And speaking of that silo... What is it? Are some of the residences going to have that as part of their unit? Is it storage? Just someplace to imprison nosy ambassadors?