(Host) An exclusive ski development that’s been on hold since 2007 will open this winter for limited skiing.
The Haystack Club in Wilmington will open a handful of trails to attract prospective buyers to its proposed gated condominium resort.
VPR’s Susan Keese reports.
(Sound of lift)
(Keese) On a brown November morning the area around the Haystack base lodge looks like a construction site on hold.
The only noticeable activity is around "Hay Fever" – the mid mountain chair lift the developers have spent $80,000 getting back into shape.
Site manager Bob Rubin says the mountain should be open for skiing on weekends and holidays by early December.
(Rubin) "This is the lift that we’ve been working on early this winter to get refurbished and get recertified from the state tramway commission. We’ll have about five to seven trails off this one lift. And then the more natural snow we get, the more trails we can open naturally."
(Keese) Haystack has been closed for four years. In 2005 Connecticut developer Bob Foisie, bought the 400 acre property for $5 million from Mount Snow.
The company was poised to turn the resort into a private, membership only ski community. Plans included townhouses, condos, a heliport and a combination base lodge, hotel and spa.
But in January of 2007, with only one 4-unit townhouse built, the developers laid off staff and mothballed the project.
At the time, the management cited slow real estate sales as the reason for delay and developer Robert Foisie is not talking about the resort now.
Wilmington Representative Ann Manwaring, who also works in real estate, says Foisie and his associates have done a number of projects in the area.
(Manwaring) "They did the Greenspring condominiums in Dover they did the Kingswood Condominiums in Dover. And they have always been regarded as very well run, very well built. So it was nice to have somebody we knew about come in and do something."
(Keese) But since the project has been mothballed multiple lawsuits have been filed. The local Sewer and Water District has sued the company repeatedly for non payment.
The town of Wilmington acquired the base lodge at a foreclosure auction although the owner can redeem it within a year.
The lodge was gutted for renovations before the project came to a halt. So the mountain will open without one this year.
It will also only be open to Wilmington residents, and prospective second-home buyers.
Rubin says that’s because of an agreement with Mount Snow requiring Haystack to operate as a private resort for at least ten years.
(Rubin) "But we also are able to sell 250 tickets a day to residents of Wilmington Vt. So for this winter we’ll be able to allow the 250 people from Wilmington to ski, we’ll also be selling membership to our club. And of course if anybody wants to come up and tour the real estate they’ll be allowed to sample the mountain for the day."
(Keese) Rubin says the winter activity should make the resort more attractive to potential buyers. They’ll also be getting a different price on the townhouses, which started at a million and now are listed for half that amount.
For VPR News, I’m Susan Keese.