Saddleback Maine for Sale!

[salsgang]

Big news out of Rangeley as the Berry family has put the mountain up for sale. Link to the news article here and at my blog.

http://maineskifamily.blogspot.com/2012/12/saddleback-maine-for-sale.html

 

[billski]

Woah.

 

[tomcat]

That's interesting. I know the Berrys have done lots of improvements and had plans for lift expansion. Hopefully a new owner could keep the price attractive still. You can't beat their current lift tickets for the quality of the mountain.

 

[Edd]

Very interesting. Really dig that place.

 

[riverc0il]

Wow. So much investment already, so many plans, and now a sale? Surely they incurred a ton of debt improving the mountain and that is going to be included with the purchase. I wonder why they would invest so much and then try to sell it. They surely can't get enough to cover their costs and make a profit as a fixer upper.

The Berry family will keep 7,600 of the 8,000 acres it bought 10 years ago and hopes to remain involved with the ski area in some capacity.

That suggests to me that the planned expansive expansion would be significantly reduced in size, if it ever happens.

I think the article says they'd be happy to see the mountain go non-profit. But if they really liked the idea, they'd set that up right now. They are probably more interested in cutting their losses and selling to the highest bigger.

So who can do this? Boyne is already saturated in that part of Maine but they could preempt competition by bring Saddleback on board and offer the ultimate and best multi-mountain season pass in New England bar none but I dont' see that happening. Jay just tapped Burke, I can't imagine they'd want another so soon. Peak Resorts might be able to benefit but they don't seem like they are in a good enough financial position to do it. Triple Peaks? They would be the first to have areas in VT, NH, and ME since ASC if they did it, Saddleback could benefit from the Triple Peaks treatment of a HSQ double replacement, lots of snow making, and the condo build up thing. Private investors not already involved with another resort?

Saddleback is a tough sell due to location but the mountain has momentum, good stats, improving visibility, and a great variety of terrain. I can't see it not going the distance at this point but I don't think the Berry family is going to have offers thrown at them either.

 

[Angus]

Not super shocking, in the last 12-18 months, hasn't there been talk about how the family was scaling back their investment which was creating some question about their future plans. The article is lacking in details about any assumption of debt by new buyer, etc. Interesting, the family is keeping the bulk of acreage. Rangeley is a special place but it is so hard to get there! Skied there last spring for first time and literally saw mountain melt out in front of my eyes but you can see how fun it would be when they have snow.

 

[Mildcat]

Wow. So much investment already, so many plans, and now a sale? Surely they incurred a ton of debt improving the mountain and that is going to be included with the purchase. I wonder why they would invest so much and then try to sell it. They surely can't get enough to cover their costs and make a profit as a fixer upper.


That suggests to me that the planned expansive expansion would be significantly reduced in size, if it ever happens.

I think the article says they'd be happy to see the mountain go non-profit. But if they really liked the idea, they'd set that up right now. They are probably more interested in cutting their losses and selling to the highest bigger.

So who can do this? Boyne is already saturated in that part of Maine but they could preempt competition by bring Saddleback on board and offer the ultimate and best multi-mountain season pass in New England bar none but I dont' see that happening. Jay just tapped Burke, I can't imagine they'd want another so soon. Peak Resorts might be able to benefit but they don't seem like they are in a good enough financial position to do it. Triple Peaks? They would be the first to have areas in VT, NH, and ME since ASC if they did it, Saddleback could benefit from the Triple Peaks treatment of a HSQ double replacement, lots of snow making, and the condo build up thing. Private investors not already involved with another resort?

Saddleback is a tough sell due to location but the mountain has momentum, good stats, improving visibility, and a great variety of terrain. I can't see it not going the distance at this point but I don't think the Berry family is going to have offers thrown at them either.

How much would the ability to be a "four season resort" appeal to potential buyers?

 

[riverc0il]

How much would the ability to be a "four season resort" appeal to potential buyers?

Tenney and Ascutney sit dormant while Burke gets bought and continues to go the multi-season resort route. I can't think of many areas that have been bought recently without the intent of trying to milk the resort year round. Even MRG is stepping up its use of its facilities in the off season for functions. I don't think modern areas can survive without four season appeal.

 

[Nick]

The asking price is $12 million for 400 acres of property that includes the ski trails and lifts, the base lodge and most of the surrounding 121 condominium units.

That seems like a pretty good price actually. I mean 120 condo units alone at $100k is $12m. Plus all the lifts and equipment and base lodge?

 

[wa-loaf]

Wow, that's a big deal. Hope it goes into good hands!

 

[drjeff]

Location, location, location!

Saddleback suffers from the perception of the "masses" (whom they need more of to pay the bills) that they're so far out of the way that it's probably not worth the extra drive time with other GOOD choices available "closer"

Right or wrong, many folks won't even bother to deal with the perceived hassle of getting there for the 1st time to check it out- i'm also guessing that the $$ that Boyne is spending on Sugarloaf (and also promoting it) isn't helping out Saddleback at drawing new folks

 

[deadheadskier]

The timing of this is certainly interesting considering didn't Saddleback just receive approval for EB-5 investment?

I personally don't think it will sell if the Berry's intend on keeping 7600 of the 8000 acres. That sounds to me like they want to rid themselves of the greatest cost liability (the ski area operation), yet retain Saddleback's greatest potential asset; land for real estate development.

If they were willing to part with all of the property, I could see a company like CNL potentially being interested in purchasing it and leasing out the resort operations.

 

[billski]

It's actually a very smart move on the part of the Berrys from an investment point of view. Sell high. The asset value is high right now. They have really made a lot of investments beyond capital. The ski school alone has had a ten-fold enrollment increase in the last five years.

The debt is not the buyers problem, though it will certainly play into how low Berrys will go. A these days buyers are investment buyers. They look for payback over NN years depending on the type of investment. That certainly means 4 season investments a-la Jay. If you've already got people making a hoof up to Sugarloaf and Bethel Maine, it's not that big a stretch. If you look at summer time, lots of people are making the hoof, for a week at a time.

At this point in the industry's lifecycle, It would not surprise me if some wall street entity buys it and subs the operation out to a third party.

It would not surprise me if they lease back some of the land to the buyer.

 

[skiNEwhere]

So 12,000,000......divided by the 5,088 members of AZ is 2,358.49 per person. Let's buy it as a co-op!

 

[wa-loaf]

Too bad I didn't win the Powerball last week. 12 mill would have been chump change ...

 

[steamboat1]

Rangely already is a 4 season destination. The lake is huge & is very popular in the summer. Contrary to what some might think skiing & Saddleback play a minor role in the local economy. The Rangeley area is arguably the snow mobile capital of the east. In winter the local hotels/motels are not filled with skiers they're filled with snow mobilers.

Still I'm surprised to hear that Saddleback is up for sale after reading all the plans they had for the mountain. Quite a few of the plans have already been constructed & installed. If you've never been there it really is a great mountain.

 

[Nick]

So 12,000,000......divided by the 5,088 members of AZ is 2,358.49 per person. Let's buy it as a co-op!

sweet

 

[skiNEwhere]

Too bad I didn't win the Powerball last week. 12 mill would have been chump change ...

I was thinking the same thing, except I would try to pry the Big Squaw area from their incompetent owner califone

 

[salsgang]

I saw Mr. and Mrs. Berry at Saddleback today as we were skiing up there today for opening day. I don't know them at all so I didn't speak to them... and anything I say about any reasons why they are selling would just be guessing.

The Berry's have been awesome for Saddleback over their 10 year ownership. The first 5 years of their ownership were pretty active from a capital perspective. New lodge, 2 new chairlifts. The last 5 years have been pretty stagnant capital wise, but they have always aimed at keeping Saddleback affordable and accessible. I am hopeful new owner(s) will revive the capital improvement plan while keeping the same Saddleback vibe.

 

[speden]

Saddleback has always been intriguing to me, but the drive from Mass is pretty brutal, with somewhat lousy roads. I've always found Sugarloaf to be much easier to get to. It must be tough to attract a lot of skier visits to Saddleback.