Haystack / Hermitage news

sull1102 · Apr 20, 2018

Yikes. So I'm reading this to say that the bank wants this wrapped up this summer and has already taken control basically if they're at the point of needing to pay for heating oil it sounds like Barnes has maybe started to just walk away with nothing. Smart move by the bank to not wait until June when it's too late to do anything for 18/19.

Does anyone think we'll ever get the full story here and find out what happened here and why everyone was saying the Club had enough members to be self sustaining moving forward as recently as Feb 2017? I'm curious how much of his personal funds Barnes actually spent and is losing in all of this.

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icecoast1 · Apr 20, 2018

sull1102 said:
Yikes. So I'm reading this to say that the bank wants this wrapped up this summer and has already taken control basically if they're at the point of needing to pay for heating oil it sounds like Barnes has maybe started to just walk away with nothing. Smart move by the bank to not wait until June when it's too late to do anything for 18/19.

Does anyone think we'll ever get the full story here and find out what happened here and why everyone was saying the Club had enough members to be self sustaining moving forward as recently as Feb 2017? I'm curious how much of his personal funds Barnes actually spent and is losing in all of this.

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He doesn't have much of a choice at this point with the bank stepping in and taking over. I'm sure the truth will come out eventually but i'd be willing to bet the fact that the members didn't take it over had a lot to do with Barnes unwillingness to actually give it up and or the ridiculous asking prices he was throwing out coupled with the 10 million dollars in liens that he obviously could not pay and the receiving party would have to pay.

I wonder how interested the members would be in buying it at auction.... you'd have to think they'd go after it pretty aggressively since it ending up in anybody elses hands would likely result in drastic changes from the place they've come to know and love

thetrailboss · Apr 24, 2018

This may have been covered, but the clock is now ticking on them to respond the the motion for a receiver.

http://www.wcax.com/content/news/Hermitage-Resort-ordered-to-close-480672081.html

And this is funny:

The Hermitage Club hosted "The Bachelor Winter Games," a four-episode spin-off of "The Bachelor" that ran in conjunction with the Olympics.

ThinkSnow · Apr 24, 2018

thetrailboss said:
And this is funny:

http://people.com/home/behind-the-scenes-details-of-the-bachelor-winter-games-house/

Glenn · Apr 24, 2018

I was surprised to read how many inns they owned in the Dover area. It's almost like a a micro version of ASC buying up everything.

sull1102 · Apr 24, 2018

Yes and no. Yes he "owned" a bunch of properties in the Valley, but it's barely a drop in the bucket of rooms up here. When you look at how he was running the off site places the trouble was obvious long ago. None of these places were ever busy or even moderately booked. Also a pair of those properties werev used exclusively for international employees because they come nowhere closer to acceptable for anything else.

Other properties, especially the Vermont House and the White House deserve more than to be some second rate property for the Hermitage. I believe, and this is all just thinking out loud, that maybe Jim thought this was gonna work out a little faster than it is and the Club would have been bringing boat loads of people into town. His little Inn only has 8 or 10 rooms at the absolute most so he wouldn't have been able to get much market share unless he bought the languishing properties around town and waited till he had $$$ to refurbished places.

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crystalmountainskier · Apr 30, 2018

A $26 million loan to pay off a $17 million loan?

http://www.reformer.com/stories/hermitage-says-it-has-financing-offer,538408

Killingtime · Apr 30, 2018

crystalmountainskier said:
A $26 million loan to pay off a $17 million loan?

Yeah, I guess the $9 mill difference is to pay off other debts that are not bank related and give the Hermitage some working capital / breathing room. Someone obviously thinks this thing is worth it. First good news about this in a long time. Wonder why the name of the new lender was redacted? Hopefully its not the same group that wanted to buy Saddleback in Maine haha.

http://www.reformer.com/stories/hermitage

sull1102 · Apr 30, 2018

That's the members coming in at the very last minute to keep their private playground going.

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drjeff · Apr 30, 2018

sull1102 said:
That's the members coming in at the very last minute to keep their private playground going.

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My thoughts exactly, and frankly not surprising at all..

Just had to get Jim Barnes out of the way, which the foreclosure notice did, and then the long standing plan by the member filled finance board of the club, to take control of the club, could be implemented...

Given the financial deals many of their members make on a fairly regular basis with their line of work, this is in their big picture, a small deal....

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sull1102 · Apr 30, 2018

I wonder what the plan is, do they just try to keep the place as is or do they continue with the approved master plan wit the hotels etc and use some of that $9 million to restart those efforts. You could probably get those townhouses visible from the gatehouse wrapped up before the end of the construction season and maybe occupied by early 2019. Also, is Barnes is gone for good, which is what I really hope this all means, does that mean the state will ease up and let the place finish those couple of trails down by the Inn that were cleared illegally years ago.

Smellytele · Apr 30, 2018

Just a really large band-aid that will still fail. Also does it say if Barnes was out or not in that article?

skifree · Apr 30, 2018

Banks starting to give money away.
Here we go again!

bdfreetuna · Apr 30, 2018

To be honest if Mount Snow bought it back, I could see myself going to Haystack a couple times a year.

This private ski club stuff is just a stop gap measure on the way to NELSAP

icecoast1 · Apr 30, 2018

Nothing more than rearranging the deck chairs on the titanic if Jim barnes is involved in anyway. If they are giving the loan to allow the members to run it that would be some actual progress

sull1102 · Apr 30, 2018

Smellytele said:
Just a really large band-aid that will still fail. Also does it say if Barnes was out or not in that article?

It doesn't say anything about Barnes, but I'm reading it to say that the current Hermitage Club got a loan at the last second from Wells Fargo, no surprise knowing some of the members, and is using most of this $26 million loan to pay off Berkshire Bank and other outstanding debts. Basically they're consolidating, but that would mean Barnes is still up top with his friend running the show for him.

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Jcb890 · Apr 30, 2018

sull1102 said:
It doesn't say anything about Barnes, but I'm reading it to say that the current Hermitage Club got a loan at the last second from Wells Fargo, no surprise knowing some of the members, and is using most of this $26 million loan to pay off Berkshire Bank and other outstanding debts. Basically they're consolidating, but that would mean Barnes is still up top with his friend running the show for him.

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It worked out so well the first time, might as well give it another go!

drjeff · Apr 30, 2018

sull1102 said:
It doesn't say anything about Barnes, but I'm reading it to say that the current Hermitage Club got a loan at the last second from Wells Fargo, no surprise knowing some of the members, and is using most of this $26 million loan to pay off Berkshire Bank and other outstanding debts. Basically they're consolidating, but that would mean Barnes is still up top with his friend running the show for him.

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My hunch is that if/when some details of the arrangement come out, we'll see that Jim Barnes will have little to no say in club operations going forward.

I'm pretty sure the likely members behind this arrangement get that the club will have significantly reduced to no chance of attracting new members with Jim Barnes having any significant say in day to day operations, or possibly any presence at the club at all other than as a paying member.

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slatham · Apr 30, 2018

drjeff said:
My hunch is that if/when some details of the arrangement come out, we'll see that Jim Barnes will have little to no say in club operations going forward.

I'm pretty sure the likely members behind this arrangement get that the club will have significantly reduced to no chance of attracting new members with Jim Barnes having any significant say in day to day operations, or possibly any presence at the club at all other than as a paying member.

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I agree, Barnes is out. How they make it work with $26mm is debt is the real question.

icecoast1 · Apr 30, 2018

slatham said:
I agree, Barnes is out. How they make it work with $26mm is debt is the real question.

Increase the dues, sell and actually build the rest of the real estate around the mountain, reduce operating costs by selling non essential items like all the hotels and inns around town.... its doable, just need the right people at the top and Jim Barnes can't be involved in any way

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