I completely agree,... the guy started with not much and built up a massive business that employed 1000's of people. Not too many people on this forum can say they accomplished 1/10 of what he did.
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Balsams Grand Resort teams up with ski industry legend Les Otten
- Thread starter bobbutts
- Start date
ss20
Well-known member
Developers can't even get financing to build new apartments or houses, which will 99.9% chance be occupied the moment the paint dries. Les thinks he can get a new ski resort in the middle of nowhere financed.
Ha. Hahahaha.
Ha. Hahahaha.
jimmywilson69
Well-known member
This thing is never getting built...
Not sure what happening in other markets but In the Boston market multi family development is still booming and money is there.
Same here in NJ in my area.
I think the bigger point is that investors are more risk averse than they might have been in the late 1990's. Especially with ski areas and related development. Add to it that LBO is the lead developer and folks will be skittish due to ASC.
Again, I get that he did a lot in his years at Sunday River et al (and I frankly do admire that). But again, how many of you are buying real estate at the Balsams or investing in him?
ss20
Well-known member
All about what's coming down the pipe...
Permits and Starts - AAF
Housing starts and permits data are released by the Census Bureau as part of its “New Residential Construction” report. Starts and permits are important indicators on the supply side of the housing market. Housing starts are seasonally adjusted and count only privately-owned housing starts...
www.americanactionforum.org
Significantly less permits being issued now than the immediate post-covid "free money" era. Especially with the multi-family units that this country desperately needs. No it's not 2008 but high interest rates are certainly killing development.
kbroderick
Active member
I've long thought that the one big issue with taking ASC public was that once the market analysts saw the books, they ran away either laughing or screaming. Operating as a private company allowed a lot more freedom as long as they had people who were willing to believe Les could keep working his magic even when the numbers looked more like a trip to Vegas than a normal business.
I also think he had a model that worked really well for Eastern resorts with real estate available for both general development and terrain expansion, but that had serious limitations when you didn't have the ability to leverage real-estate development as a driver for terrain development and skier-visit growth. But I haven't seen the financials, so I have no idea how well the various ASC properties performed.
All possible and likely in some areas.All about what's coming down the pipe...
Permits and Starts - AAF
Housing starts and permits data are released by the Census Bureau as part of its “New Residential Construction” report. Starts and permits are important indicators on the supply side of the housing market. Housing starts are seasonally adjusted and count only privately-owned housing starts...
Significantly less permits being issued now than the immediate post-covid "free money" era. Especially with the multi-family units that this country desperately needs. No it's not 2008 but high interest rates are certainly killing development.
I am not see interest rate slow down the appetite for MF around here, yet. It usually does but for some reason we are still busy as heck.
The problem with developing MF in the Mass. market now is the newly adopted energy code requirements and what it’s going to do to the cost of construction. That can be a killer to ROI.
OMG. Look at Burt Mills. That has to be circa 1989 maybe ‘90. I definitely recall Les’ Descente Purple & Grey one piece.
Les‘s big rule back then was that every employee always had to have their name tag on. 100% of the time. Notice that Les has no name tag…. Yours truly found Les’s tag at the top of Locke, and we held it for ransom
FBGM
Well-known member
This is not going to happen. It’s a dream. Any investor would have better luck putting it all on black at the casino
Podcast Episode
www.buzzsprout.com
Les appeared on Egan's podcast to talk about his legacy and work on Balsams.
Last edited:
machski
Well-known member
Les did get some press for first to vote town in the primary last week
I wondered if he did. I heard that all six voters showed up. I did not see any footage. I know that he was front and center in 2020.
BodeMiller1
Well-known member
Yep, this is national news for 16 hours or so. They all voted for the right person.
BodeMiller1
Well-known member
Casinos have saturated the market especially now that you can gamble on a cell phone. If Les can get the Red Sox a World Series win and overcome the curse of Babe Ruth - he can do this. There are a lot of places to ski butt, Les knows the industry better than most. The big ski areas within 100 miles or so are watching this closely. If he comes close to pulling off his master plan it will change the game.
Edit: He has a better than 50 / 50 chance, I'm guessing he would go with RED instead of BLACK. Just look at Sunday River.
Newpylong
Well-known member
Snowmaking installers have begun reviewing in person Phase I of the build out (which includes replacement of snowmaking in the existing area, two new pods and the gondola to the hotel). 100K feet of pipe.
drjeff
Well-known member
Roughly 18 miles of new pipe (100k feet) is something most folks can't comprehend what a project it is!
“I’m going to post this here for the haters!”
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