Big Burke announcement

[thetrailboss]

2 ski mountains open 4-5 months a year for skiing, 50 miles apart. I don't think it is rocket science to get this right, especially if you already have street (er, I mean mountain) cred...we will find out shortly what market share Burke can pull from NH and southerly VT mountains based on having more beds and better used marketing budget, and scale in a package with Jay. I suspect we will know whether Burke drives its skier visits up enough or not based on this in 2-3 years time.

I don't think we should underestimate the value of having management onsite. Skiing is just a different kind of animal when it comes to business. Besides that, ASC demonstrates that having remote management does not always work out well. I recall many, many complaints and problems at Sugarbush and other places because management in Maine was calling the shots and just not there. As you said, with the hotel going up and other efforts to make Burke a player, it is even more critical to have someone there onsite as often as possible.

 

[VTKilarney]

Agreed. An on-site manager who knows how to run a ski area can get a very good feeling for what the mountain needs. Things like snowmaking are best managed with "eyes on".

On the other hand, I can certainly appreciate taking advantage of an economy of scale with the merged Jay-QBurke group. But at the end of the day it's a good thing to have someone on-site who can make decisions.

 

[Masskier]

Well Steve is on site quite a bit. He is at Burke at least half (if not more) of the week. He also has a very talented team. I'm told that the bulk of the energy right now is going into Burke. They plan to increase skier visit's by 50% in the next 3 years. The same marketing team had great success at Jay.

 

[VTKilarney]

Well Steve is on site quite a bit. He is at Burke at least half (if not more) of the week.

That's a very good sign.

I'm told that the bulk of the energy right now is going into Burke.

It's definitely the squeaky wheel.

They plan to increase skier visit's by 50% in the next 3 years. The same marketing team had great success at Jay.

How much of that percentage will occur naturally as a result of the hotel? That's awfully ambitious.

 

[thetrailboss]

Well Steve is on site quite a bit. He is at Burke at least half (if not more) of the week. He also has a very talented team. I'm told that the bulk of the energy right now is going into Burke. They plan to increase skier visit's by 50% in the next 3 years. The same marketing team had great success at Jay.

Good to hear.

And a 50% increase is, I think, somewhat reasonable considering that they are around 80k per year. So 120k. The last goal that was made public was to double visits. That will just take time and snow.

 

[VTKilarney]

This past year they were open 110 days, which may have been a few days more than normal. But for the sake of argument, if we use 110 days, they are shooting for 363 more skiers per day. That's less than the capacity of the hotel, so it seems quite doable.

 

[from_the_NEK]

Out of that 110 days open. The biggest holiday periods before February were pretty bad in the snow dept.

Once the hotel is built, and if Burke can score a season with good weather for the holidays, they could easily bump up over the 100K skier visits mark. 120K is not out of the question either. Although I hope they fire up the Willoughby quad on those "extra" busy days

 

[VTKilarney]

That's one big crane!

 

[dlague]

That's one big crane!

They will need it to lift the room modules and set them in place! It is like a hotel Lego set!


.......

 

[from_the_NEK]

They will need it to lift the room modules and set them in place! It is like a hotel Lego set!

The Tram House Lodge at Jay was frame built. The Stateside Hotel was module built. My guess it the Mid-Burke Hotel/Lodge will be frame built in the same fashion as the THL.

I saw the crane on the intermittent webcam yesterday.
It looks like the crane is currently being used for moving concrete forms into place. Keep in mind that this building is going to be about 550' long from end to end (1.5 football fields incl end zones). Even that tall crane likely can't reach both ends from a single position.

 

[thetrailboss]

They will need it to lift the room modules and set them in place! It is like a hotel Lego set!


.......

God I hope it will be stick built!

 

[VTKilarney]

They will need it to lift the room modules and set them in place! It is like a hotel Lego set!

Having seen several modular hotels (including the Contemporary Resort at Disney World), I'm actually pretty impressed with that method of construction. I was surprised to see that Burke was not using it. Perhaps it does not allow for angular lines or something like that.

I'm willing to bet that people have been in modular hotels and never known it.

 

[Smellytele]

I'm willing to bet that people have been in modular hotels and never known it.

They are neat to see when they are delivered. Most of the furniture even the pictures on the wall are already in the rooms.

 

[dlague]

They are neat to see when they are delivered. Most of the furniture even the pictures on the wall are already in the rooms.

Stateside is pretty nice and I would never have guessed if I had not seen it being built. I thought I had heard of plans to go modular, maybe not. Some where early in this thread.


.......

 

[deadheadskier]

I wonder how EB-5 regulations work regarding modular vs. stick construction.

i.e. were the modular units for Stateside constructed in Vermont or built elsewhere and shipped in? From a local economics stand point, it would seem stick construction (though likely more expensive for the resort) is probably much better for the local economy.

 

[VTKilarney]

I've been told by someone in the trade that VERY few of the construction jobs go to locals whether it's stick built or not. There may be some truth to this since PeakCM is not based in the Northeast Kingdom.

 

[from_the_NEK]

The Stateside Hotel had to be built within a 7 month period between ski seasons or there would have been no lodge at all on Stateside for a ski season. That would have been unacceptable. Hence the modular construction of the hotel section. The lodge section was stick built.
Burke doesn't have to have the hotel lodge done by next ski season and therefore can use the stick built construction technique. Stick built allows for a lot more flexibly in the floor plan. Especially for suites and open areas.

 

[from_the_NEK]

Nice weather last night here in the NEK. I managed to get a few keepers...

 

[Masskier]

Wow, Very nice.

 

[Not Sure]

Wow, Very nice.

Nice...except for the green leaves looks like fall skies