The Vancouver-based investors who bought Mount Baldy are dusting off the ski hill’s real estate in anticipation of attracting skiers and investors to the South Okanagan ski resort.
Mount Baldy was bought out of receivership this year for $3.4 million and held its opening day December 2.
The principal investor is Victor Tsao, a Chinese-born, Vancouver-based lawyer.
Joey O’Brien, the managing director, said he’s working to ensure the hill has a solid foundation of support to avoid depending on holiday business. He has already sold more than 370 seniors’ season passes at $20 a pop and aims to top 5,000 passes total this winter. He hopes to boost traffic to 20,000 “active participants” by 2020.
“If I can get it to 20,000, then I know that we have a very stable company,” O’Brien said.
Judging from the crowds on opening day, that should not be a problem.
“It was packed," said Scott McKenzie, director of real estate development for Baldy Mountain Resort.
“We have a couple of lots available but mostly we will be marketing complete packaged homes as we have aligned ourselves with a very large Vancouver-based builder who already owns property up here and wants to grow with us,” McKenzie said.
The first step into improving accommodation will be the development of 24 mini-cabins, he said, which will be operating as nightly rentals and not available for sale.
Investors may be interested in the start of 35-lot detached-villa subdivision where turnkey homes will be available in the $300,000-to-high-$300,000's range by next season.
Also, Baldy will be taking orders this season for 16 townhouses that can be available for lock-off rental accommodation, McKenzie said. The townhouses will also be available for the 2017-2018 season. Prices are estimated to start at $250,000 for a 1,200 square foot unit, or about $208 per square foot.
McKenzie said some existing owners are trying to sell existing cabins at the hill.
O’Brien said the new owners have invested at least $1 million in upgrades in the past five months. This has included the purchase of high-quality ski and snowboard rental equipment.
All of the ski lifts, including the Eagle, Sugar Lump chairs and Magic Carpet, are all upgraded and the day lodge has also been renovated, he added. Crews have also been cutting and trimming trees to open the 500 aces of skiable terrain.
Mount Baldy has a base elevation of 5,650 feet above sea level, which is 2,000 feet below the mountain peak, and offers views and snow conditions that can match any other facility in the Okanagan Valley, O’Brien said.
O’Brien was president and chief executive officer at Fortress Mountain in Alberta from 2008 to 2014. Prior to that he owned Ski Martock in Nova Scotia from 1979 to 2003.
