Burke/Ginn Publicly Unveil Plans

[from_the_NEK]

I will have to stop at the office sometime to see what the building elevations look like. It will be interesting to see what the remodelled Sherburne Lodge will look like as well as the buildings of the Cutter (Bridgmor) base area.

 

[psyflyer]

Some have noted that Burke has a new website with a link to the development plans. Here are those plans for your viewing and comment. FWIW we asked Burke two years ago to post those plans here for you to see, but they didn't. Now they are because the first round of public meetings are two weeeks from now and they have settled on what they want to do.

The Master Plan.

Sherburne Base Plan Note the expanded lodge, relocation of snowmaking and maintenance buildings, expanded parking lot. Burke is shifting their day skiers to the lower mountain. The new lodge will seat 675. Current one seats 300.

MidBurke Plan. New Express lift (?) will sit in the current MidBurke Lot. Lodge will be torn down and replaced by a 4000 sf sprung structure for a lodge. Translation: no more midmountain lodge...for now. Terrain additions: note that Upper Doug's will be widened. Also note that there are trails to the Cutter Area. Minor terrain additions at best. Not clear what will happen with Poma or Willoughby. Previous plans had the Willoughby cut in half and terminating near where Tower 17 (top of Upper Warren's) is and the Poma cut to the midstation.

Cutter Plan features the condo development, a new lift, some beginner/intermediate terrain that sits in the meadow above the old Cutter Inn. Some addition trails from East Bowl area to it.

No immediate plans for expansion in East Bowl, but the map indicates where those trails and one lift will go.

Thoughts? Comments?

I tried to put the images on this post, but no luck...if someone can, awesome.

This is awesome news. I live on Burke Mt (slope-side) and this place rocks, as a new-comer I can honestly say it exceeds any expectations I had. Plus, we are getting a few inches overnight, and will be there first chair in the morning!!!

 

[from_the_NEK]

This is awesome news. I live on Burke Mt (slope-side) and this place rocks, as a new-comer I can honestly say it exceeds any expectations I had. Plus, we are getting a few inches overnight, and will be there first chair in the morning!!!

You'll have to be up early to beat me to the first chair Saturday morning

 

[thetrailboss]

So what did the 'Wrecker say about the meeting after the fact? No online article.

 

[from_the_NEK]

So what did the 'Wrecker say about the meeting after the fact? No online article.

Nothing earth shattering. Just a very basic overview of the meeting.
Apparently the tallest Condo structure will be 70-80 feet tall (barely taller than the trees).
The main parking lot will have lights.
Even though the economy is currently down, the development is still going to move ahead as planned, but as been said before it will be phased in slowly.
The mountain is currently still losing money. It needs more skiers and having the additional beds at the base will help that.

 

[ski_resort_observer]

Burke certainly has alot going for it but the idea "build it and they will come" is a movie, not real life. Remember this is a business that a few years ago was so unwanted when it went for sale that even a public auction couldn't save it and only resulted in a very reluctant Burke Academy taking it over basically to survive as a viable ski prep school.

Ginn is going to whatever it takes to make it a viable property to go along with their large stable of golf/tennis resorts. It's alot easier to make a downsize amendment to an Act 250 permit then one to increase the size of the developement so IMHO that the plan they propose for their state/town permits might be larger than even their current intentions. I suspect Phase 1 assuming they get the Act 250 with this current plan will be small and then go from there.

 

[thetrailboss]

Remember this is a business that a few years ago was so unwanted when it went for sale that even a public auction couldn't save it and only resulted in a very reluctant Burke Academy taking it over basically to survive as a viable ski prep school.

FYI there is evidence to suggest that said auction was rigged.

And not to be too technical, but BMA never owned Burke, an entity composed of people "affiliated" with BMA formed Burke 2000 LLC to buy and operate the mountain. BMA was a part of it, but the LLC was the operating company.

 

[from_the_NEK]

Burke certainly has alot going for it but the idea "build it and they will come" is a movie, not real life. Remember this is a business that a few years ago was so unwanted when it went for sale that even a public auction couldn't save it and only resulted in a very reluctant Burke Academy taking it over basically to survive as a viable ski prep school.

Ginn is going to whatever it takes to make it a viable property to go along with their large stable of golf/tennis resorts. It's alot easier to make a downsize amendment to an Act 250 permit then one to increase the size of the developement so IMHO that the plan they propose for their state/town permits might be larger than even their current intentions. I suspect Phase 1 assuming they get the Act 250 with this current plan will be small and then go from there.

But if people come and you don't have it built, they won't come again :???: .
Burke has to expand itself, at least a little bit, to make it more attractive for destination skiers. Previous owners have been trying to run Burke as a place for day trippers. We all know that Burke cannot attract enough day trippers since it is "too far away" from all the major population centers. Having a larger bed base (and a high speed quad to the summit :wink: ) will help attract clientele who will stay for an entire weekend (or better yet a whole week).
It is not like they are going to build Disney world by next year and hope it all sold within three months. I think they are more realistic about what the market will bear. They have already seen the writing on the wall and pushed the golf course off to Phase 2. The entire project has already been scaled back and the timeline stretched out. They need to do a few more major upgrades before they start attracting more customers.
IMO from a true skier's point of view, the one big thing they have done to improve the actual skiing experience, is add a HSQ. But that high speed quad only services beginner terrain. This lift did attract a lot of families who were new to skiing. However, once these beginners have become intermediates good enough to ski the upper mountain, they go and hop on a slow fixed grip quad, and that can't be a good feeling. If I was in that boat, it might make me start looking elsewhere for a "better experience". Once they take that next leap and put in a HSQ to the summit I think they will see an increase in skier numbers and repeat customers.

 

[thetrailboss]

FTN has a point. Unfortunately, the day-skier crowd will only consider a mountain if it has high speed lifts.