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Elk Sold


rummy

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Kalahari purchasing it has me thinking that there's a plan to turn Elk into a Camelback like circus. Unless they plan on a "swim and ski" type packages to maybe that pull some of Camelbacks business? Only problem is Elk is about 50 minutes away. Like Dan said....interesting. We'll see I guess.

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1 hour ago, RidgeRacer said:

Kalahari purchasing it has me thinking that there's a plan to turn Elk into a Camelback like circus. Unless they plan on a "swim and ski" type packages to maybe that pull some of Camelbacks business? Only problem is Elk is about 50 minutes away. Like Dan said....interesting. We'll see I guess.

This is exactly what was going through my mind.  Not sure how much land there is, other than the ski area and parking lot.  it would be a real shame to build a circus right on the ski area like camelsack did.  But, at the same time, is building the circus in that area worth it?  will there be a big enough draw?  The ski and swim thing.....man thats a pretty long drive, but i guess some might see it as an option, but then why not just go to Camelsack?  Other than the obvious, Kalahari is a machine, and Camelsack is a toy.  Why not Montage?  its a little closer, and one would assume that place could be had for the right offering. And for that matter, why not Camelsack?   Maybe they have no interest in basically competing with themselves?

Anyways, its ashame to see these smaller family type resorts being bought up by the big dogs, but at some point, with enough cash waved in your face, it might not be worth the BS that goes along with running a ski joint in this area.  

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I think the family that owns elk may have been trying to off load it for some time.

Regarding ski and stay, they'd have to provide transportation in order to make that work IMO. Perhaps a shuttle or a ski bus (or busses) that run every few hours or so. But, to your point, it's a fairly long drive.
2fe38b8ae4f0ca49da7b9bd037adbb87.jpg

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'camelback' is owned now by a real estate investment company.

that company's is EPT Ski Properties and they are the owner of camelback's location at 193 Resort Dr according to the GIS. they look like a subsidiary of EPT properties, which is owned by EPR properties. looks like they dabble in all kinds of stuff and i'm not going down that rabbit hole, but they have vail press releases on their investor site for some reason, i don't know if they are part owners. maybe something like ski+casino? they do that stuff too.

susquehanna's gis looks like it was updated in May, so it's still showing elk mt as the owner of that property.

i don't think it'll have anything to do with the camelback brand.

doc is here if anyone cares re: image below -- http://investors.eprkc.com/Investor-Presentation/Index?KeyGenPage=1073753490

i wonder if it'll be part of hte peak or epic or whatever passes those are. i don't follow that enough to know.

 

EPR ski resorts include:

Northstar California

Alyeska Resort

Mad River Mountain

Alpine Valley Ski Area

Boston Mills/Brandywine Ski Resort

Wisp Ski Resort

Wintergreen Resort

Jack Frost Ski Resort

Camelback Mountain Resort

Hunter Mountain

Mount Snow

Jack Frost Ski Resort / Big Boulder

elk.jpg

Edited by Benm
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This sounds like a huge stretch to me. Elk is far removed from easy road access and has no amenities. They would need to build a wastewater and water facility, and there’s also not an easily accessible outfall location. They would need to upgrade the roads among many other things. Unless the family is buying it as a trophy, I just don’t see how this becomes a profitable venture on the scale they are used to.

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This sounds like a huge stretch to me. Elk is far removed from easy road access and has no amenities. They would need to build a wastewater and water facility, and there’s also not an easily accessible outfall location. They would need to upgrade the roads among many other things. Unless the family is buying it as a trophy, I just don’t see how this becomes a profitable venture on the scale they are used to.

I was waiting for the RideDE commentary. It did not disappoint.
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It does sound far fetched. Selling now for owners of a ski resort would be selling at the bottom of the market.  For buyers, buying at the bottom sounds good at first thought but there's a huge unknown for the next one, two or three seasons as to how may skiers per day will be allowed.

On the other hand, there is some untapped potential in the surrounding 'base area' (if you can even call it that) and maybe some investment entity sees potential. Adjacent to Elk's property on the north is a fairly large condominium complex which is in the unique situation of having all the property values driven way, way, way down.  Did I mention a huge decrease in value?  On top of the decrease in values I heard they were going to have a very large assessment per unit for something.

Elk has been mostly successful in the courts over the years to make life hard for owners in that complex, and therefore has driven down property values. By a lot. That seemed to the the intended outcome all along. Local's believe it to be a case of orneriness and vindictiveness, mosty on Elk's part but also on the condo owners part. I heard some of the die hards on the condo/HOA board sold their properties in the recent past and the eagerness to engage in a fight has subsided on the condo assoc's part. 

And I also heard talk, this was two seasons ago and was third hand, of one of the farm fields adjacent to Elk's parking lot being sold for development.

In a rural community like Susquehanna County where everyone knows everybody else's business a sale of Elk would be impossible to keep under wraps for a long time. 

Edited by Old Geezer
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OP here. Even though I heard the info from a reliable source and fellow local property owner, nothing "official" has been announced. Until that time, let's consider this a rumor... OK?

Ride Delaware and Old Geezer brought up many points I whole heartedly agree with. The Kalahari purchase was talked about last season. Also discussed was the purchase of the mountain South of Elk and the land in between, effectively increasing Elks' footprint three to four times its present size.

The present owners own a huge amount of land surrounding the mountain, so I think acreage for development wouldn't be a problem with the right amount of BIG $$$. State, county and township infrastructure investment would be problematic. 

If the sale is true, I think Elks' owners decided they don't need all the uncertainties and headaches of the next several years... As I said... "We'll See" .

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4 hours ago, rummy said:

OP here. Even though I heard the info from a reliable source and fellow local property owner, nothing "official" has been announced. Until that time, let's consider this a rumor... OK?

Ride Delaware and Old Geezer brought up many points I whole heartedly agree with. The Kalahari purchase was talked about last season. Also discussed was the purchase of the mountain South of Elk and the land in between, effectively increasing Elks' footprint three to four times its present size.

The present owners own a huge amount of land surrounding the mountain, so I think acreage for development wouldn't be a problem with the right amount of BIG $$$. State, county and township infrastructure investment would be problematic. 

If the sale is true, I think Elks' owners decided they don't need all the uncertainties and headaches of the next several years... As I said... "We'll See" .

A detail on the bolded point, at one time, 10+ years ago, I knew Elk did not own some of land on which the eastern most trails sit, the natural snow trail is one (I forget the name).  They leased that land, and I suspect still do today. 

There was some minor back and forth with the owning entity about leasing for gas drilling and Elk could have lost out on the deal (for the land woner gas leasing could have generated more income that leasing to Elk). That never came about and the gas well went in on two hilltops south of Elk's summit.

A disclaimer, all this could have changed over the years, my memory is hazy and this was during the time when Marcellus gas drilling was at a peak.

Edited by Old Geezer
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