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« Previous Story | The Industry Report Home Page | Next Story » Quelle Economie? Quebec's Le Massif Defies Gloom And Doom With Dramatic MakeoverBy Roger Leo 
"This is a positive story, and we all know there aren't a lot of them out there," Groupe Le Massif Vice-President Frederic Gonzalo told The Industry Report on a day when the global economic news was anything but pretty last week. "It's the largest investment going on in Eastern Canada right now." The Territoire Le Massif project involves a 30 percent increase in skiable terrain from 410 acres to 533 acres, new base area and lifts; a train from Quebec City to La Malbaie, with a station at the ski area; a hotel and conference center in Baie Saint Paul; a new summit village; and a total of 850 rooms of various types. Daniel Gauthier, a founder of Cirque du Soleil, bought financially troubled Le Massif in September 2002 for C$10 million, and has since invested $15 million in lifts, snowmaking and lodges. Gauthier also acquired La Ferme, a historic farm in Baie Saint Paul, in April 2005. He acquired the 134-kilometer-long Quebec City-La Malbaie rail line in November 2008, beating out Canadian National. Gauthier and Groupe Le Massif developed the Territoire Le Massif master plan, presenting it to neighbors and officials in 2005. Development was to begin in 2007, but was delayed by a fire that destroyed La Ferme, tough bargaining with Le Massif employees, and lengthy negotiations over the rail line. "This has to be a four-season resort," Gonzalo said. "Considering the amount that must be invested in snowmaking, gondolas, and everything that goes into a ski resort, nobody in their right mind will invest in that for four months of the year." Hence the Territoire Le Massif project. One foundation of the project is close ties to surrounding communities. Baie Saint Paul, a few miles east along the river, was once a fishing village where residents built wooden boats in winter and fished in summer. The collapse of local fishing changed that, and the village has become an art center with galleries, hotels, B&Bs, and restaurants. Works by local artists hang on most walls in the various lodges at Le Massif, and the area's kitchens use local products to the extent possible. Gonzalo said that type of connection will grow as the project moves forward. Le Massif is expected to make broad economic impacts through the project. "We want to contribute to the positioning of the Charlevoix area and the Province of Quebec on the world map by creating a distinctive model of sustainable tourism development," he told us. The funding mix involves 75 percent private funds and 25 percent public funds committed because of the anticipated regional economic impact. How do tough economic conditions that prevail everywhere impact the plans? Gonzalo said that, with financing in place, there's an upside for the project in the down market, in the shape of lower materials cost and abundant availability of labor. "The project is not driven by real estate development. We want enough rooms for skiers, but not too many," he said. The same sensitivity may not be universal, however, as others in the region hope to profit by a boom in tourism. Private developers already have bought hundreds of surrounding acres with plans to create vacation homes and retirement homes. The potential for too much growth of an unattractive nature has created a concern among principals at Groupe Le Massif, who say they are wary of a Disney-like aura. Jean-Luc Brassard, gold medalist for Canada in mogul competition at the 1994 Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway, is a skiing ambassador with Le Massif. He played a role in attracting local support for Gauthier's vision of the project. "We gathered together people from this region and took everybody on a bus tour of Vermont, to show what can be done in a whole region with a shared vision of how development can happen in a way that is respectful of everybody, and profitable," Brassard said. "The idea was to learn how to do it and make it beautiful." Le Massif operates on leased public land, much as many U.S. resorts operate within National Forests. The area is within a corridor of protected forest that stretches 70 kilometers along the St. Lawrence River, and up to 20 kilometers inland, General Manager Pierre Raymond told The IR. He said this zone of protected land will help preserve Le Massif's unspoiled natural setting, one of its big attractions. Le Massif is best known as a ski destination, with the highest vertical (2,526 feet) in Canada east of the Rockies, but winter operations alone are not enough to sustain the resort. Skier day visits went from 70,000 skier visits a year before Gauthier's purchase to 182,000 skier visits in 2008. Raymond said the project will increase skiable terrain by 30 percent, from 410 acres to 533 acres, and ramp up skier visits to potentially 260,000. Gonzalo said the project is set to break ground in the summer of 2010 and proceed in phases to 2013. Initial work will include a 150-unit hotel and conference center, restaurant, and public market in Baie Saint Paul, he said. Railway work includes construction of a train station at Le Massif for passengers who take the 20-minute ride from town to slopes, and launch of touring trains from Quebec City 134 kilometers west along the St. Lawrence River to La Malbaie. Work at the ski area includes a new base facility with 60-room hotel, 30-room spa, themed lodging, new trails, lift work, reconfiguration of existing lifts, and construction of a Nordic Village at the summit. Housing units will be built over the project's four-year span, including themed units such as lodging in railway cars; elevated, glass-floored slopeside units; riverside units on stilts; and wind- and solar-powered units. Raymond said the project will solve structural problems at the ski area. "Look at our trail map. Everything funnels skiers down to a single point at the base. The project will extend the base area east along the river, and make for an easier movement of people around the mountain." He said several lift options are on the table, including a summit gondola - a key component of creating a four-season resort - and repositioning the existing high-speed summit quad, but final decisions have not yet been made. There also is a green component to the project, in energy, materials, and operation, he said. "We're being careful with how we say this. We want this project to be green, but we're very conscious of how people look on 'greenwashing'," Gonzalo told us. Le Massif already has green programs in place, including recycling, use of as much local product as possible, and reserved parking for skiers and snowboarders who arrive in hybrid vehicles. What It Means: Many hopes get dashed by economic downturns the proportions of which we are working through right now. There's the story of how once "oh, so promising" Tamarack in Idaho fell victim to a loan offer from Credit Suisse too good to be true. It was. Revelstoke, in British Columbia, is attempting a 15-year development rollout, but is now sputtering on a far slower track. Le Massif has the money in the proverbial sack and a reasonable four-year build out plan. Ah, there had to be a silver lining somewhere. « Previous Story | The Industry Report Home Page | Next Story » |
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