Luxury Ski Resort in Montana Delayed – Forever?

Tom Maclay has a dream – a luxury destination ski resort on his 3,000-acre property south of Missoula, Montana. Enter financial crisis stage left and the very idea of yet another luxury ski destination funded by the sale of over-priced McMansions has to be very much in doubt.

The Ski runs are already cut

Ski resorts have been dropping like flies – Yellowstone luxury residence club has provided some extremely entertaining arguments and promises some entertaining lawsuits once the vultures have finished fighting over the carcass. Although these are the people that bought it down themselves, so perhaps vultures is an inappropriate analogy. Tamarack ski resort in Idaho is shuttered up and all but empty, with no interested buyers on the horizon. And the problem is by no means exclusively US based. Bansko ski resort in Bulgaria has just as many issues and add the problem of some very shady dealings by British real estate agents using hard sell techniques to sell off-plan properties that never got built and this is an entire town that is looking likely to fold up and wither away.

Maclay is lucky in that he has hardly got started on his dream vision. But – even though he purchased the land from his parents at a massive discount, he still managed to run up debts of more than $18 million. Local contractors are not getting paid and 400 acres of the 3,000 is now up for sale in an attempt to keep things rolling.

According to New West Development,  Maclay remains optimistic:  “The model we have – with Cat skiing, nordic skiing, mountain biking – will work well on any level,” he says. “We have one of the best sites in the world. It may take time – 20 years or 40 years or whatever – but we have done the homework and the due-diligence for it to work on any level. Everything we’ve done allows for phasing.”

Also according to New West, James Tuer, Bitterroot Resort’s erstwhile architect  now questions the viability of a real estate-driven ski resort: “We’re going back to first principles in the ski industry. If the bottom line from the skiing operations doesn’t make sense, you’re in the wrong business.”

Maclay has already been sued by one local company for non-payment of bills, and has had liens placed on his property by several other contractors, and the Cat skiing operations have ceased. Maclay acknowledged that the financial meltdown had created some issues but added: “I’m confident we’ll be able to work through this just fine.” He said he “regretted” paying anyone late, but said lots of contractors had been paid large sums already and that he always paid his bills in full.

I must admit to wondering why Mr Maclay is so confident. Presumably he knows something the rest of us are not privvy to. With fairly well-established resorts falling by the way side, I am not so sure I would be rushing to build a new one. In any case – whether he can get out of his 18 million dollar hole is another question. Selling off bits and pieces to pay the bills is hardly encouraging.

Local opposition will be pleased about the current situation. Environmental campaigners have been trying to get the project stopped for some time, as the proposal includes use of 12,000 acres of public land making it one of the largest ski resorts in the world.  According to their website:

Perhaps due to the sheer magnitude of the proposed resort, there are serious questions about the suitability of Lolo Peak for a ski area:

“The proposed layout of ski runs on the Carlton Ridge part of the proposed Bitterroot Resort pose serious technical and logistical problems in moving skiers the four miles or so from the Carlton Lake area to the base area because Carlton Ridge is nearly flat for that distance. A long traversing road across the north face of Carlton Ridge would be needed to provide enough slope so skiers could ski down, or a series of staggered lifts on the north face of the ridge would be needed. In any case, it would be a contrived situation that most skiers would spurn.” – Clint Carlson, 40 years a professional ski coach, ski instructor, snowboard instructor, and PSIA clinician/examiner, now retired. Friends of Lolo Peak.