Jay Peak Base Lodge

[JPTracker]

I've been reading this forum for a long time and finally decided to join. My home mountain is Jay Peak and usually get in 20 - 30 days a year. There's a lot of knowledgeable people who read this forum and I am curious of your reaction to Jay's latest proposal for there base lodge.

I picked up the following proposal from the real estate office. It shows a building about 3 times the size of the current base lodge. The skier services will be on the bottom floors and the top 3 floors will be a Day Lodge consisting of 20 rooms per floor times 3 floors for a total of 60 rooms.

Construction to begin in a year and take 2 years to complete. After this is completed then the hotel will be razed and replaced with a conference center and health club. Financing is still not set yet so the time line is subject to change. The West Bowl will probably not be touched until after this. Jay has not been known to do more than one thing at a time.

 

[kcyanks1]

Construction to begin in a year and take 2 years to complete. After this is completed then the hotel will be razed and replaced with a conference center and health club. Financing is still not set yet so the time line is subject to change. The West Bowl will probably not be touched until after this. Jay has not been known to do more than one thing at a time.

I guess I can see why Jay wants to upgrade the lodge/hotel, but why not do the skiing first?

 

[JPTracker]

They want to do the lodge first because right now all the skier services, ski school, rentals and the lodge itself is overwhelmed with the number of skiers they already have and can not handle the increase the West Bowl would bring in. If you have every been it the base lodge on the weekend you know what I mean.

 

[riverc0il]

i suspect the new hotel, lodge, and conference center would also benefit the golf course going in this year as well? certainly that image above gives that area a much more "village" feel. jay peak certainly has plenty of terrain, there isn't a huge need for the expansion as best as i can tell. though word is jay peak is certainly seeing a dramatic increase in visits since they really started making a big marketing push on their snow fall and number of powder days.

 

[EPB]

I love how so many people go to Jay, but all of the good terrain is still left empty most of the time..... Everybody seems to ski the blue squares off of the tram which is clutch.... I just hope that people will be occupied by the new west bowl when its done and stay away from the classic Jay bumps glades and chutes, baby.

 

[RIDEr]

The club that I belong to throws three different classes of EAST COAST ski trips. The first is to a ski resort that is only for terrain (right now, JAY). Next is to a ski resort that only has a good village (Stratton - also known to some as Flatten). Finally, there is the perfect mountain with the best of both worlds in mountain and village (tough call to pick one, but I would say Stowe).

Once this village is installed and more than two bars are open the mountain will certainly get more than the powder whore that loves Jay for what it is today.

Overall, I love Jay and look forward to any change that they make to improve it. Best of luck to their investors and THINK SNOW for the upcoming season....

HOW MANY DAYS UNTIL WINTER AGAIN???

 

[thetrailboss]

Welcome to the boards! :beer: Have you tried Burke yet?

I was a bit confused about this:

I picked up the following proposal from the real estate office. It shows a building about 3 times the size of the current base lodge. The skier services will be on the bottom floors and the top 3 floors will be a Day Lodge consisting of 20 rooms per floor times 3 floors for a total of 60 rooms.

The 20 rooms per floor was confusing...I assume you just mean that there will be 20 rooms (locker rooms, bathrooms, open space, etc) as opposed to 20 rooms that are rented to people?

Yes, Jay's lodge is in BAD need of repair. It gets wet, smelly, hot, stuffy, etc. Kinda dirty. Glad they are doing this. The demand for Jay has increased by a huge pace. This will elevate its status. So I give it the thumbs up. No surprise on West Bowl holdup. Seems like the next "golf course" project: 15 or so years of hype before actual construction. :roll:

 

[NHpowderhound]

Golf courses, confrence centers, spas and villages means higher ticket prices.
I feel like the Jay I know will become another Stratton.
((*
*))NHPH

 

[kcyanks1]

They want to do the lodge first because right now all the skier services, ski school, rentals and the lodge itself is overwhelmed with the number of skiers they already have and can not handle the increase the West Bowl would bring in. If you have every been it the base lodge on the weekend you know what I mean.

It may very well be possible that Jay is an area that I've somehow managed to only ski on weekdays (all 4 times I've been there). I can't remember for sure. I do agree the lodge needs upgrading, but perhaps since I haven't seen it at its worst, I don't realize the true degree to which it needs it. Then again, I just always get more excited about terrain upgrades than amenity upgrades.

 

[JPTracker]

Welcome to the boards! :beer: Have you tried Burke yet?

I was a bit confused about this:


The 20 rooms per floor was confusing...I assume you just mean that there will be 20 rooms (locker rooms, bathrooms, open space, etc) as opposed to 20 rooms that are rented to people?

Yes, Jay's lodge is in BAD need of repair. It gets wet, smelly, hot, stuffy, etc. Kinda dirty. Glad they are doing this. The demand for Jay has increased by a huge pace. This will elevate its status. So I give it the thumbs up. No surprise on West Bowl holdup. Seems like the next "golf course" project: 15 or so years of hype before actual construction. :roll:

I used to ski Burke on the way to Jay when they honered our season passes.

By 20 rooms per floor I did mean 20 rooms rented tp people for a total of 60 rooms.

 

[thetrailboss]

OK, so there would be private "day booths" per se for rent then?

 

[Tyrolean_skier]

I visited Jay for the first time this year. I was not impressed with the base lodge. I thought there were too many people in there and not enough seating capacity. I would say that the new lodge would be a great improvement.

 

[skibum1321]

I think it would be better if they dedicated more space to common area where everyone can eat and sit down. It seems like if they have all this rented space, then the common areas will be just as crowded. I for one will never pay extra to rent space for the 5 minutes I spend in the lodge on any given day.

 

[JPTracker]

I think it would be better if they dedicated more space to common area where everyone can eat and sit down. It seems like if they have all this rented space, then the common areas will be just as crowded. I for one will never pay extra to rent space for the 5 minutes I spend in the lodge on any given day.

The bottom floors of the building will be all common area. The three upper floors will basically be a hotel with rooms to rent for the night. I guess the term "Day Lodge" is confusing.

 

[Tin Woodsman]

The bottom floors of the building will be all common area. The three upper floors will basically be a hotel with rooms to rent for the night. I guess the term "Day Lodge" is confusing.

So it seems like the building will act as a day lodge, skier services center, and hotel (perhaps with fractional ownership of the units). Alternately, maybe it doesn't act as the day lodge at all, and the existing lodge is the sole food/storage place that, with the evacuation of the skier services, can serve the larger crowds Jay has seen.

Also, notice the buildings to lookers' left of this new lodge. Seems like the base area construction at Jay has quite a ways to go.

 

[thetrailboss]

Seems to be that the biggest omission from this diagram is that the Freezer is nowhere to be seen...it sits right about where the left-most building is in this diagram. Well, guess it all depends on how large that building will be. :-?

I

 

[meat]

Yes, Jay is trying to become a four season resort with upgraded facilities. To tell you the truth, it makes me happy because they are trying to bring more $ to the area, but it makes me mad cuz I like Jay how it is now. tough call imo.

one point you guys have not brought up is the passport deal. its official in jan 2007 it will be required for ALL canadian guests to show a passport to cross the boarder (thanks bushy), and if you don't know about 50% of Jay's traffic is Canadian. This will probably sure to hurt Jay and most all buisnesses along the boarder. I would not be surprised to see Jay's plans scalled back some, if not a lot. MSSI doesn't even want Jay anymore, I just hope they don't sell it to ASC. It will be VERY interesting to see how everything pans , I hope it works out.

 

[Tin Woodsman]

Unless MSSI accepts IOUs as payment, I don't think ASC will be buying Jay Peak any time soon. What you should really worry about is someone like Ginn or another real-estate oriented firm buying Jay. Intrawest wouldn't do it b/c, despite the real estate possibilities, they already have an asset in the Montreal market - Tremblant. Though that didn't stop them with Copper and Winter Park I guess.

 

[thetrailboss]

one point you guys have not brought up is the passport deal. its official in jan 2007 it will be required for ALL canadian guests to show a passport to cross the boarder (thanks bushy), and if you don't know about 50% of Jay's traffic is Canadian. This will probably sure to hurt Jay and most all buisnesses along the boarder. I would not be surprised to see Jay's plans scalled back some, if not a lot.

Lord knows that them Canadians are big terrorists and we need to be worried about them :roll:

 

[riverc0il]

i don't think it is fear specifically about the canadians that caused the law changes. i suspect it is more in reference to the mexican boarder domestically. but a lot of people highlight how one of the highjackers crossed into the USA from canada. however, he did so perfectly legally and the passport law won't stop terrorists from coming in legally such as one of the highjackers did.

i have mixed feelings on the issue. it will certainly hurt business in the short term, but in a few short years, everyone will be used to it and eventually people will start thinking that is the way it always has been. i think canadians near the boarder will consider jay worth the price of a pass port and the extra hassle, especially considering they get to buy on par with USD. pretty much the best deal going, i don't think jay will loose much canadian business.