8 replies to this topic

[truckintr]

http://www.ktvn.com/dyn_fullnews.asp?area=...ry&storyid=6396

[KZ]

That link didn't work so I dug another up:
http://www.tahoedailytribune.com/article/2...=73247382648108

Homewood ski resort is sold

The largest privately-owned piece of land in the Lake Tahoe Basin has been sold to a development company based in the Bay Area.

Homewood Mountain Resort sold to JMA Ventures, the company that built Ghirardelli Square in San Francisco and specializes in historic redevelopment. The resort occupies 1,260 acres on Tahoe's West Shore. The move comes on the heals of a controversy involving 4th District Congressman John Doolittle, R-Roseville, who prevented a possible sale of the property to the U.S. Forest Service.

JMA President Art Chapman, a longtime Truckee resident who skis at Homewood, said the company wants to keep the feel of the resort the same while upgrading the base of the mountain.

"We're not proposing a bigger mountain," Chapman told the Sierra Sun this week. "We're not going to expand the ski operation."

The company hopes to build a retail and lodging project at the base of the mountain and upgrade the ski lifts, but at the same time keep the mountain's uncrowded, family-owned character.

"We don't want to make it look like a Squaw Valley," Chapman said. "We want it to be Homewood."

The Yurosek family, former owners of the mountain who own a pistachio farm in Southern California, will stay on as minority partners. The Yuroseks bought the resort in 1998.

Chapman is still hoping for a deal with the Forest Service to preserve the property, and said the resort is seeking $22 million from the Santini-Burton Act. The act reaps money from surplus federal land sales around Las Vegas and uses it to buy environmentally sensitive properties in the Lake Tahoe Basin.

If the mountain does sell to the Forest Service, the money from the sale would be re-invested into the resort, Chapman said.

The Forest Service asked for between $60 million and $65 million from the Land and Water Conservation Fund in its 2007 budget, which the federal agency determined was a "high-end estimate for the land" since no serious negotiations had taken place, said Forest Service spokesman Rex Norman.

"It was not based on an appraisal or anything," Norman said.

That request was blocked by a spending bill rider inserted by Doolittle, who said neither the Forest Service nor the land owners involved him enough in the process.

A purchase of the property had never been nailed down, according to the Forest Service.

"It is important to keep in mind that there has not been any acquisition underway," Norman said.

Chapman said the Forest Service's involvement in the resort purchase is critical to the continued operation of Homewood.

"We truly think that it has to be a public/private partnership to ensure that Homewood remains open to the public," Chapman said.

The resort has been losing money for years, he said.

The partnership with the federal government would allow lift upgrades and renovation of facilities that, coupled with a commercial development at the base of the ski resort, would allow the ski area to remain open to the public and financially viable, Chapman said.

"We never wanted to develop the mountain," Chapman said. "We looked at it from the standpoint of 'how do we preserve this?'"

Homewood currently operates four chairlifts and two surface lifts.

Chapman said he believes that Doolittle's opposition to the plan will evaporate once the Congressman is fully briefed.

"I can understand a Congressman from the district saying he will not support this until he fully understands it," said Chapman.

The Forest Service is waiting to see how the Department of Interior spending bill progresses. If the House of Representatives' version of the bill passes and is signed, then the Forest Service will be blocked from buying Homewood until a new budget cycle comes around, Norman said.

"There is the provision in the appropriations bill and if that stays then 2007 is out," Norman said.



While this sale isn't really suprising it will be interesting to see what comes out of it. I would hate to see homewood end up closing because even though I never had fun there, I'm sure it is a fun place. It is definatley a change over the mainstream atmosphere of the other tahoe resorts. Hopefully out of all this they will finally get a new website.

[Peter]

I think Homewood is getting a new lift this summer from the new owners because they put their current quad up for sale. I imagine they are getting a detachable, but we will have to wait and see.

[SkiBachelor]

I have a feeling that a detachable won't be able to help Homewood get anymore skier visits, plus its parking lots are super small.

[SkiBachelor]

I received an e-mail from Kent Hoopingarner of Homewood Mountain Resort and he said that there are no plans of replacing the Quad at Homewood this summer.

Maybe Mad River Lifts is using a bottom terminal shot of Homewood's Quad for a lift that's in storage. There's probably a lot unless they got scrapped.

Mammoth, Sugar Bowl and Keystone are just a few.

[Peter]

Here are all the Yan fixed quads built with stats:

Year Lift Name Type New/Mod Ski Area State Slope Vert. Cap Speed
1982 Quad FG Quad RTT Homewood CA
1983 Bear Mtn. II FG Quad New Killington VT 2979 1081 2400 400
1983 Christmas FG Quad New Mountain High CA 1487 265 2400 325
1983 Elkhead FG Quad RTT Steamboat CO
1984 Skye Peak FG Quad New Keystone CO 4964 1515 2200 465
1984 Bear Mtn. FG Quad Trpl-Quad Killington VT
1984 Elkhead FG Quad New Steamboat CO 2454 706 2400 425
1985 2 FG Quad New Mammoth Mtn. CA 3950 935 2400 400
1985 24 FG Quad New Mammoth Mtn. CA 5390 956 2400 400
1985 25 FG Quad New Mammoth Mtn. CA 4358 1336 2400 450
1987 Little White Cap FG Quad New Sunday River ME 3725 898 2000 500
1988 Quad FG Quad New Ski Montcalm Que 1480 373 2400 400
1988 D FG Quad PDTT Sunday River ME 3160 614 1800 450
1988 E FG Quad New Sunday River ME 3685 1285 2400 480
1989 11 FG Quad New Boreal Ridge CA 2076 465 1800/2400 450
1990 Chair #8 Quad New Loveland Basin CO 3837 879 2500 450
1990 Silver Queen Quad New Siver Star BC 1670 246 1800 550
1991 Aurora Peak Quad New Sunday River MA 3483 1095 2400 480
1991 Ptarmigan Quad New Lake Louise Albta 3252 1330 2200 450

[SkiBachelor]

There is also the former LE Quad that was replaced by the Wildwood Express at Vail and the quad at Sugar Bowl, CA.

[necskibum]

Skier, on Mar 19 2007, 12:22 PM, said:

Here are all the Yan fixed quads built with stats:

Year Lift Name Type New/Mod Ski Area State Slope Vert. Cap Speed
1982 Quad FG Quad RTT Homewood CA
1983 Bear Mtn. II FG Quad New Killington VT 2979 1081 2400 400
1983 Christmas FG Quad New Mountain High CA 1487 265 2400 325
1983 Elkhead FG Quad RTT Steamboat CO
1984 Skye Peak FG Quad New Killington VT 4964 1515 2200 465
1984 Bear Mtn. FG Quad Trpl-Quad Killington VT
1984 Elkhead FG Quad New Steamboat CO 2454 706 2400 425
1985 2 FG Quad New Mammoth Mtn. CA 3950 935 2400 400
1985 24 FG Quad New Mammoth Mtn. CA 5390 956 2400 400
1985 25 FG Quad New Mammoth Mtn. CA 4358 1336 2400 450
1987 Little White Cap FG Quad New Sunday River ME 3725 898 2000 500
1988 Quad FG Quad New Ski Montcalm Que 1480 373 2400 400
1988 D FG Quad PDTT Sunday River ME 3160 614 1800 450
1988 E FG Quad New Sunday River ME 3685 1285 2400 480
1989 11 FG Quad New Boreal Ridge CA 2076 465 1800/2400 450
1990 Chair #8 Quad New Loveland Basin CO 3837 879 2500 450
1990 Silver Queen Quad New Siver Star BC 1670 246 1800 550
1991 Aurora Peak Quad New Sunday River MA 3483 1095 2400 480
1991 Ptarmigan Quad New Lake Louise Albta 3252 1330 2200 450

Fixed a little error...sorry.