Saddleback

[thetrailboss]

Sadly, no positive saddleback news, just a link to an article about closure effect on Rangely

https://www.bostonglobe.com/lifestyl...Jdd6OH1g4e-N0A

And this is my sentiment...

“One of my criticisms has always been to me they had a responsibility to the community and they haven’t been very forthright on the progress of moving the mountain forward with new owners,” Welch said. “The excuse always is, ‘Well we have to keep everything confidential.’ Well, yeah I guess you do, but on the other side, all of us are paying for that business model.”

[Bostonian]

Necroing the old thread... but it looks like there is some movement on Saddleback

https://www.newenglandskiindustry.co...hp?storyid=776

[Smellytele]

Although it states opening the ski area is not a certainty


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[machski]

Looking for opportunity zoning or EB-5 options does not speak well to the depth of the pockets of the buyers. Good luck, would like to see it work out but I'm skeptical this group has the pockets to make Saddleback truly soar.

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[eastern powder baby]

Looking for opportunity zoning or EB-5 options does not speak well to the depth of the pockets of the buyers. Good luck, would like to see it work out but I'm skeptical this group has the pockets to make Saddleback truly soar.

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Not super familiar with opportunity zoning, but it seems like common sense to take a tax break if the government will give you one.

One gap I have on EB-5 is the return you need to pay on investment. Do they get shares, or more of a structured return (interest/dividend and potential maturity date). The reason I ask is because it could be cheap financing to go bigger than the market would otherwise allow without dilluting themselves into oblivion.

To your point, this is a tough development because they need to put up quite a bit of $$$ to attract the right amount of masses to the area.

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[cdskier]

One gap I have on EB-5 is the return you need to pay on investment. Do they get shares, or more of a structured return (interest/dividend and potential maturity date). The reason I ask is because it could be cheap financing to go bigger than the market would otherwise allow without dilluting themselves into oblivion.

"Need" may not be the right word. Since it is an investment, nothing can be guaranteed and it must involve some level of risk. Generally speaking my impression is that most "honest" projects at least try to pay back the full principal and maybe a tiny amount of interest. But let's be realistic here, the foreign "investors" aren't looking for a big return. They simply want the green card (and this is one of the huge criticisms of this program in that it essentially allows people with money to just buy their way here).

[eastern powder baby]

"Need" may not be the right word. Since it is an investment, nothing can be guaranteed and it must involve some level of risk. Generally speaking my impression is that most "honest" projects at least try to pay back the full principal and maybe a tiny amount of interest. But let's be realistic here, the foreign "investors" aren't looking for a big return. They simply want the green card (and this is one of the huge criticisms of this program in that it essentially allows people with money to just buy their way here).

I use the term "need" because if the buyer actually wants to make money off this endeavor (and agreed - normally I wouldn't normally talk this way, but these ski developments seem to have unusually high occurrences of ulterior motives), it could be prudent to take artificially cheap capital from foreigners looking to jump the line rather than raise capital on the merits of the business plan. I personally think it's way too risky of a move for my $$$.

I don't know if this would be considered sacrilege, but I've wondered if there's a way for a place like SB to strike a deal with an Alterra or Epic (most likely Epic given proximity to SR/SL) where they could get decently paid to take overflow traffic onto their relatively empty mountain.

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[GregoryIsaacs]

Does anyone have any photos of SB's "snowfields"? I dont think Ive ever gotten a good idea of what they ski like.

[eastern powder baby]

There might be some pictures on the Facebook account they used to use when they were operational. No idea what the status of it is. I get the sense that they didn't extend too far down from the ridgeline though.... I've been to SB once on a solo trip with some overcast, so I wasn't able to make it out there.

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[Edd]

I don't know if this would be considered sacrilege, but I've wondered if there's a way for a place like SB to strike a deal with an Alterra or Epic (most likely Epic given proximity to SR/SL) where they could get decently paid to take overflow traffic onto their relatively empty mountain.

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You might mean Ikon in regard to SR/SL but, as a Saddleback fan, I’d take pretty much any arrangement that would get the lifts spinning again. Beats the current situation.