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From the Deerfield Valley News:
Delinquencies, doubts cloud Haystack’s future
by Mike Eldred
WILMINGTON- The status of the Haystack Club, a planned private ski resort at the former Haystack ski area, is still up in the air.
This spring, the town of Wilmington received notice that the assets of original developer 1 Cornell Way had been transferred to Alt Charities, a real estate holding company. In a letter asking the town to transfer the lease of town-owned land at the ski area to Alt Charities, the company’s president, G. Tyler Henshaw, told the town that Alt Charities planned to continue developing the real estate and would “evaluate the lifts for use or replacement.”
Although Haystack was a popular family ski area since the 1960s, it was plagued with managerial and financial turmoil. Mount Snow purchased Haystack in 1992 and secured rights to Haystack’s snowmaking water. Mount Snow ran Haystack as a “downscale” family alternative to their main mountain for several years, but eventually they, too, ran into financial problems and reduced the ski area to a weekends-only operation. In 2005, 1 Cornell Inc. purchased Haystack from Mount Snow. They planned to turn the mountain into an upscale private ski resort.
The Haystack Club was an ambitious project that included hundreds of four-unit town houses, two 80-plus-unit condominium complexes, a 162-unit hotel, and numerous on-mountain amenities and improvements. Dozens of local jobs would be created by the project. But, with only one unit completed, work on the development came to an abrupt halt in January 2007. At the time, 1 Cornell representatives blamed the season’s lack of snowfall and a nationwide decline in real estate sales for the decision. Employees were given severance packages, and a number of customer deposits were returned.
Subsequently, 1 Cornell failed to pay on their lease of town-owned land, which includes the upper portions of Haystack’s ski trails, and let the taxes lapse on a parcel that includes the base lodge. After 1 Cornell missed two tax payments on the base lodge property, the town took it to tax sale to recover the $63,390 in back taxes. When no one else bid on the property, the town bought it. “Technically, we own it now, but it’s in limbo,” said Wilmington Town Manager Bob Rusten. “1 Cornell has a year to redeem it.”
To redeem the property, 1 Cornell will have to pay the tax owed on the property, plus interest and fees.
For Wilmington officials, Alt Charities’ vow to continue work on the project seemed to be a promising development in the continuing saga of the ski area. But now officials say that Alt Charities and 1 Cornell appears one and the same. The two companies share a number of the same officers, including Thomas E. Cross, a Keene resident who is listed as treasurer of both corporations.
Rusten sent a reply to Alt Charities’ request for the lease of the town-owned parcel that included a list of “expectations” for use of the land. If Alt Charities wanted the lease, they’d have to acquire the base lodge parcel owned by the town as well as the surrounding parcels that were part of the ski area, and present a plan to build and operate a “fully-functioning ski resort.”
“We never heard back from Alt Charities,” Rusten said. “But we did receive a check from 1 Cornell for the lease, so the land stays with 1 Cornell for now.”
One of the stipulations the town put on the transfer of their lease was a requirement for Alt Charities to resolve several issues between the developers and the Coldbrook Fire District. When 1 Cornell’s Haystack Club was in its initial phases, they entered into an agreement with Coldbrook Fire District for the upgrade of their sewer plant. The upgrade would be necessary to handle wastewater from the large number of units at the resort. “Everyone at Coldbrook was extremely supportive of 1 Cornell’s project,” said Coldbrook board member Susan Haughwout. “Nobody wanted to see them succeed more than we did.”
Coldbrook administrator Roberta Carey says 1 Cornell initially asked for, and received, sewer allocation for 20 units. Four of the units have been completed, but are unoccupied, and a foundation for four more has been poured. Coldbrook has withdrawn the allocation for the 12 unbuilt units, but Carey says the company refuses to pay for their remaining sewer allocations, including that of the base lodge that now belongs to the town.
Carey says 1 Cornell has argued that, since they aren’t using their allocation, they shouldn’t have to pay. Not only are the completed units not occupied, the base lodge has been gutted and is unusable. “That isn’t how it works,” Carey says. “When you request and receive the allocation, you either hook in or you don’t – either way you pay the fees for the allocation. They knew all this ahead of time, but they’ve chosen not to follow our rules and to make their own.”
Coldbrook says 1 Cornell owes them about $140,000 for services. The figure includes $42,000 that a judge has ordered 1 Cornell to pay the sewer district, but which still hasn’t been paid. Carey says 1 Cornell is delinquent on all of their sewer payments, except those associated with the country club at the Haystack Golf Course. She says 1 Cornell’s failure to pay has left Coldbrook Fire District in financial difficulty. “We’re in deficit,” she says. “We’re in worse shape than we were. We’re not in a position where we’re going to shut down, but we’re using reserve funds to keep going.”
Carey says the Coldbrook board of directors hopes the project will be sold to another investor, but she says Alt Charities and G. Tyler Henshaw aren’t “new” owners. “We were told during litigation that he’s an associate (of 1 Cornell’s Bob Foisie).”
Until the issues with the town and the sewer district are worked out, the project appears to be at a standstill.
A lone four-unit town house complex sits just below the base lodge. It sticks out like a surreal piece of suburbia plopped down amid a moonscape of boulders, rubble, and foundation holes. The wind tugs at torn bits of plastic covering missing windows at the base lodge, and the lifts have been left to weather the elements.
Representatives of 1 Cornell and Alt Charities did not return calls asking for comment.
Delinquencies, doubts cloud Haystack’s future
by Mike Eldred
WILMINGTON- The status of the Haystack Club, a planned private ski resort at the former Haystack ski area, is still up in the air.
This spring, the town of Wilmington received notice that the assets of original developer 1 Cornell Way had been transferred to Alt Charities, a real estate holding company. In a letter asking the town to transfer the lease of town-owned land at the ski area to Alt Charities, the company’s president, G. Tyler Henshaw, told the town that Alt Charities planned to continue developing the real estate and would “evaluate the lifts for use or replacement.”
Although Haystack was a popular family ski area since the 1960s, it was plagued with managerial and financial turmoil. Mount Snow purchased Haystack in 1992 and secured rights to Haystack’s snowmaking water. Mount Snow ran Haystack as a “downscale” family alternative to their main mountain for several years, but eventually they, too, ran into financial problems and reduced the ski area to a weekends-only operation. In 2005, 1 Cornell Inc. purchased Haystack from Mount Snow. They planned to turn the mountain into an upscale private ski resort.
The Haystack Club was an ambitious project that included hundreds of four-unit town houses, two 80-plus-unit condominium complexes, a 162-unit hotel, and numerous on-mountain amenities and improvements. Dozens of local jobs would be created by the project. But, with only one unit completed, work on the development came to an abrupt halt in January 2007. At the time, 1 Cornell representatives blamed the season’s lack of snowfall and a nationwide decline in real estate sales for the decision. Employees were given severance packages, and a number of customer deposits were returned.
Subsequently, 1 Cornell failed to pay on their lease of town-owned land, which includes the upper portions of Haystack’s ski trails, and let the taxes lapse on a parcel that includes the base lodge. After 1 Cornell missed two tax payments on the base lodge property, the town took it to tax sale to recover the $63,390 in back taxes. When no one else bid on the property, the town bought it. “Technically, we own it now, but it’s in limbo,” said Wilmington Town Manager Bob Rusten. “1 Cornell has a year to redeem it.”
To redeem the property, 1 Cornell will have to pay the tax owed on the property, plus interest and fees.
For Wilmington officials, Alt Charities’ vow to continue work on the project seemed to be a promising development in the continuing saga of the ski area. But now officials say that Alt Charities and 1 Cornell appears one and the same. The two companies share a number of the same officers, including Thomas E. Cross, a Keene resident who is listed as treasurer of both corporations.
Rusten sent a reply to Alt Charities’ request for the lease of the town-owned parcel that included a list of “expectations” for use of the land. If Alt Charities wanted the lease, they’d have to acquire the base lodge parcel owned by the town as well as the surrounding parcels that were part of the ski area, and present a plan to build and operate a “fully-functioning ski resort.”
“We never heard back from Alt Charities,” Rusten said. “But we did receive a check from 1 Cornell for the lease, so the land stays with 1 Cornell for now.”
One of the stipulations the town put on the transfer of their lease was a requirement for Alt Charities to resolve several issues between the developers and the Coldbrook Fire District. When 1 Cornell’s Haystack Club was in its initial phases, they entered into an agreement with Coldbrook Fire District for the upgrade of their sewer plant. The upgrade would be necessary to handle wastewater from the large number of units at the resort. “Everyone at Coldbrook was extremely supportive of 1 Cornell’s project,” said Coldbrook board member Susan Haughwout. “Nobody wanted to see them succeed more than we did.”
Coldbrook administrator Roberta Carey says 1 Cornell initially asked for, and received, sewer allocation for 20 units. Four of the units have been completed, but are unoccupied, and a foundation for four more has been poured. Coldbrook has withdrawn the allocation for the 12 unbuilt units, but Carey says the company refuses to pay for their remaining sewer allocations, including that of the base lodge that now belongs to the town.
Carey says 1 Cornell has argued that, since they aren’t using their allocation, they shouldn’t have to pay. Not only are the completed units not occupied, the base lodge has been gutted and is unusable. “That isn’t how it works,” Carey says. “When you request and receive the allocation, you either hook in or you don’t – either way you pay the fees for the allocation. They knew all this ahead of time, but they’ve chosen not to follow our rules and to make their own.”
Coldbrook says 1 Cornell owes them about $140,000 for services. The figure includes $42,000 that a judge has ordered 1 Cornell to pay the sewer district, but which still hasn’t been paid. Carey says 1 Cornell is delinquent on all of their sewer payments, except those associated with the country club at the Haystack Golf Course. She says 1 Cornell’s failure to pay has left Coldbrook Fire District in financial difficulty. “We’re in deficit,” she says. “We’re in worse shape than we were. We’re not in a position where we’re going to shut down, but we’re using reserve funds to keep going.”
Carey says the Coldbrook board of directors hopes the project will be sold to another investor, but she says Alt Charities and G. Tyler Henshaw aren’t “new” owners. “We were told during litigation that he’s an associate (of 1 Cornell’s Bob Foisie).”
Until the issues with the town and the sewer district are worked out, the project appears to be at a standstill.
A lone four-unit town house complex sits just below the base lodge. It sticks out like a surreal piece of suburbia plopped down amid a moonscape of boulders, rubble, and foundation holes. The wind tugs at torn bits of plastic covering missing windows at the base lodge, and the lifts have been left to weather the elements.
Representatives of 1 Cornell and Alt Charities did not return calls asking for comment.
