Summit ski resort has changed hands

[Webmaster]

By Amy Martinez

Seattle Times business reporter

The Summit at Snoqualmie, a family-oriented ski resort where many of Seattle's skiers got their start, has been quietly bought by a Florida real-estate investment trust.

CNL Income Properties paid almost $35 million in January for The Summit, as part of a $170 million deal for four ski properties owned by Booth Creek Ski Holdings of Truckee, Calif. Booth Creek continues to operate the properties under long-term lease agreements.

Based in Orlando, CNL owns real estate with a focus on the leisure and lifestyle segments, such as golf and ski resorts, marinas and destination-retail centers, and is expanding its footprint in the Northwest.

CNL on Monday completed a $312 million acquisition of seven former Six Flags properties, including Wild Waves & Enchanted Village in Federal Way.

CNL also owns Cypress Mountain ski resort north of Vancouver, B.C., which will host the freestyle skiing and snowboarding competitions during the 2010 Winter Olympics, as well as Whistler Creekside, a retail village at Whistler Blackcomb, B.C.

"Folks in the Pacific Northwest have quality of life down better than most people in the country," said Byron Carlock, president and CEO of CNL Income Properties. "It's a natural that we'd have investments there."

About 50 miles east of Seattle on Interstate 90, the Summit fits with CNL's strategy of owning properties that cater to people "looking for opportunities to spend time with their children and grandchildren," Carlock said.

Booth Creek's Web site boasts that the Summit is "commonly known to have taught half of Seattle how to ski." With 96 trails, it had about 510,000 skier visits in 2006.

CNL has no immediate plans for major renovations to the Summit, said Flanker Legler, director of investment research. In January, CNL said it would spend about $28.7 million over four years at two ski resorts bought from Booth Creek — one near Lake Tahoe, Calif., the other in Lincoln, N.H. A fourth ski resort bought from Booth Creek also is near Lake Tahoe.

Booth Creek had owned the Summit since the mid-1990s.

source: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2003663054_snoqualmie120.html

[Webmaster]

Snoqualmie Pass ski area expansion plans scaled back
By LISA STIFFLER
P-I REPORTER

Plans to expand the ski area at Snoqualmie Pass are being scaled back in a compromise reached between the ski pass operators and environmentalists.

Local conservation groups had raised concerns about potential harm to black bears, cougars, deer and other animals that live in the area or migrate through the pass.

To get the endorsement of the conservation groups and to avoid their challenge to the plan -- which has been under development for about a decade -- the construction of a gondola and mountaintop restaurant were scrapped. The addition of a chairlift through an area of mature and old growth forests was put on hold until scientists can fully determine how the development would affect wildlife.

Three new chairlifts would be built, and nine would be rebuilt or their paths changed, under the agreed-upon plan. The number of lifts would increase from the current 19 up to 22.

The plan still must be approved by the U.S. Forest Service, which could finalize the deal by the end of the year. The upgrades and expansions would be completed over the next 10 to 15 years.

"We feel really good," said Dan Brewster, general manager with The Summit at Snoqualmie. "Obviously we had to give up some things that were pretty important to us, but it was a very good dialogue and we're all feeling that we've been able to come up with a plan that makes sense....

"We very much want to be good environmental stewards of the land up here," Brewster said. The ski resort operates on publicly and privately owned land.

Before the chairlift and ski runs could be built in the old-growth forest, the resort operators, the Forest Service and the environmental groups would need to develop research plans, the research would need to be completed, and then reviewed by a science panel.

If the biologists conclude that animals can co-exist with the expansion, "we'll live with it," said Charlie Raines, director of the Sierra Club's Cascade Checkerboard Project.

The agreement announced Monday is between the Sierra Club, Conservation Northwest, Alpine Lakes Protection Society and Ski Lifts Inc., operator of The Summit.

To mitigate for damage caused by the planned expansion, the resort operators would donate about 130 acres of land to the national forest, some of which would become part of the Alpine Lakes Wilderness.

Later this summer, folks with the Stevens Pass ski resort will be proposing upgrades and expansions for their resort north of Snoqualmie.

The changes include replacing some older lifts, improving trails and adding new lifts in undeveloped terrain, said Chester Marler, director of planning for Stevens Pass.

Environmental groups have been briefed on the plan, which would span five to 10 years of development.

"Their primary concerns were in changes to wildlife habitat," Marler said.

Neither the resort nor conservation groups could say Monday if similar negotiations could speed the process with Stevens Pass.

source: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/319381_skiarea12.html?source=rss

[Webmaster]

Ski area completes expansion plan after input from conservationists
THE NEWS TRIBUNE Published: June 14th, 2007 01:00 AM

The Summit at Snoqualmie ski area has settled on an expansion plan after input from conservation groups.

The plan for expansion is smaller than what the four-area resort wanted. Resort staff members met with the Sierra Club, Conservation Northwest and the Alpine Lakes Protection Society while developing the plan.

“We appreciate the efforts of the conservation groups to work with us to craft a plan that benefits both skiers and wildlife,” said Dan Brewster, the Summit’s manager.

Highlights of the plan:

• One new lift at Summit East instead of two. New runs could be carved through the trees if the environmental impact is minimal.

• A new lift at Alpental and an upgrade to the upper-mountain lift from a double- to triple-seater. The resort will scrap plans for a gondola and a mountaintop restaurant.

The release of the impact statement is expected this summer when there will be a period for public comment.

Craig Hill, The News Tribune

source: http://www.thenewstribune.com/adventure/story/86931.html