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Montage Gets $14 Million Transfusion

By J.D. O'Connor
July 24, 2006

A group of investors from the Philadelphia area have agreed to purchase Montage Ski Resort from Lackawanna County and pump a minimum of $14 million of improvements into the popular but tired Pennsylvania area over the next five years.

But the deal came together so smoothly and quickly that one potential suitor felt jilted.

Snow Time, based in York, Pa., and operator of three southern Pennsylvania areas - Ski Roundtop, Liberty Resort and Whitetail - put a $5.1 million purchase price and a $10 million investment package on the table. That bid came a week before the county announced its deal with Sno Mountain and no talks were conducted with Snow Time.

"We made a presentation, but it wasn't taken seriously by the commissioners," said Snow Time president Scott Romberger. "We only found out they were serious about selling a week ago. They (the county and Sno Mountain) were already bound to each other."

Two years ago the county put a $9.6 million price tag on Montage. Two bids, one from Snow Time, were received but neither approached the $9.6 million and the county took the resort off the market.

Lackawanna County bought Montage from its original owners in 1991 for $14.7 million and has $8.6 million in municipal bond debt outstanding from that purchase.

Lackawanna County had operated Montage at a loss for 15 years. "It wasn't profitable for the county because it wasn't run right," said Commissioner Robert C. Cordaro. "A good ski resort requires continual reinvestment and that didn't happen to Montage under county management. In fact, there had been no investment in the area for 20 years."

Sno Mountain LLC will pay $5.1 million for Montage, which is within Scranton's city limits, and has pledged to spend $8 million for a water park and $6 million in improvements to the ski area. The upgrades to the ski facility include $3 million in new snowguns and grooming machines, and $2 million in renovations to Montage's lodge.

Montage's 20 full-time staff and 450 seasonal and part time employees will stay on the job as part of the agreement. Cordaro indicated that was an important feature of the deal because the seven principal investors who make up Sno Mountain have no experience with operating a ski resort.

"You need either experience or history to run a successful ski resort," said Cordaro. "And there is history at Montage. Some people have been there for 20 years."

Montage is very important part of what is becoming a tourist-based economy," said Cordaro. "It is important to the county that Montage is kept as a snow mountain for 10 years (another feature of the agreement). A lot of hotel and restaurant business has been built up from the ski season."

Montage will be able to draw from a regional population of about 500,000, said Cordaro. But it was the promise of a water park and the potential year-round use of the resort that made the deal worthwhile to the county.

Sno Mountain President Denis Carlson Sr. could not be reached for comment but did say in a published interview with the Scranton Times-Tribune that his plan is to begin construction on the lodge and the snowmaking system by August and be ready to open for skiing in early December.

The deal further includes potential development to the resort. Lackawanna County will receive 10 percent of the profit from any real estate development that is directly related to skiing, such as slopeside condos, and 50 percent of the profit from any other development projects on the 400-acre tract.

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Comments

	will we still have are jobs now an past i been there for 6 years an plan to stick more time in thank you
	Posted by: mike michael acevedo | September 17, 2006 06:37 PM

	Sno Mountain is planning on doiing what the county should've done, adding a terrain park, more snow guns, more trails, and more lifts.
	Posted by: Tyler Wenzel | December 7, 2006 05:06 AM

	I would like to know if the current lifts are being renovated. Terrible lifts was the main reason we stopped skiing Montage. (I could walk up the hill faster. Also, the double chair really isn't big enough for two baby boomer adults.)
	Posted by: Diane Dunn | December 26, 2006 08:43 AM

	I have not been to the mountain in 15 years due to Fast Track and the long lift never opne during the weekday. I always called and asked why. Camel and Blue with the fast highspeed lifts have been getting my money for the last 15 years but if new lifts and trails open I will be back with many friends this is a good thing Tom in S. Jersey
	Posted by: tom | February 27, 2007 01:48 PM