Federal HUD Dollars Give Bolton A Lift

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Federal HUD Dollars Give Bolton A Lift

By Mountain News Staff
August 08, 2005

Bolton Valley, Vermont, has tapped into an unusual source for a $650,000 loan to help finance a new lift -- the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development.

The HUD funds reach the resort through the town of Bolton, which received the money as a grant from Vermont's Agency of Housing and Urban Development and will be the lender of record.

"The state agency makes funds available for things like job creation, job retention and affordable housing. In our loan application, we made a case for job retention," Bolton Valley President Bob Fries said.

"We need to replace a critical lift, to the top of Vista Peak, a tired, 35-year-old double that could last one more year or a few. Without replacing it, we felt like the resort would be in jeopardy. We and the town made a compelling case to retain 300 full-time and seasonal jobs."

The grant, approved in April, will cover about half the cost of a new base-to-summit, fixed-grip Doppelmayr quad. Fries added that he expected the money to be in hand this week and that terms were "somewhat better than normal commercial rates."

Construction on the new lift would begin in mid-August and it is projected to be operational for the coming season.

Fries said, to his knowledge, the only other Vermont resort to have benefited from similar state grants is Jay Peak. The town of Jay secured the grants to help the resort defray the costs of a new lift about five years ago and to build a golf course, now under construction, he said.

NSAA President Michael Berry said he wasn't aware of current similar arrangements in the industry. In the 1970s, "some resorts took advantage of industrial revenue bonds," he said. "But it was more for base-area infrastructure, not lifts."

- by Irwin Curtin

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