The sale of Mount Baldy’s operation and assets to a new buyer operating as Baldy Mountain Resort was completed Thursday. (Richard McGuire file photo)
The sale of Mount Baldy’s operation and assets to a new buyer is now official.
Gary Powroznik, managing director of G-Force Group and receiver, announced Thursday that the sale of assets to 1063205 B.C. Ltd. has now closed.
The new owner will operate as Baldy Mountain Resort.
Joey O’Brien, managing director for Baldy Mountain Resort has assumed full responsibility for the Mount Baldy assets and operation on behalf of a group of investors headed by Victor Tsao, a Vancouver-based lawyer.
The B.C. Supreme Court approved the sale of the resort’s assets on June 27.
The bankrupt resort closed at the end of the 2012-13 ski season, reopening in January 2015 for a couple months under a potential buyer, who was unable to complete the purchase.
The resort remained closed for the 2015-16 ski season when negotiations with another potential buyer fell through.
O’Brien is a passionate lifetime skier, originally from Antigonish, Nova Scotia, who now resides in Canmore Alberta.
He is a second-generation ski resort developer, who purchased his first resort, Ski Martock, from his father in 1979 at the age of 19.
Later he was president and chief executive officer at Fortress Mountain in Alberta from 2008 to 2014.
Nicknamed “Snowy Joey,” he is undertaking his third resort revitalization with Mount Baldy.
“We are very pleased to announce that the Mount Baldy Resort is finally in the hands of a qualified purchaser who can begin to bring it back to full operation this year and lay a solid foundation for a thriving sustainable resort for the community,” said Powroznik in a news release.
“We truly hope that the new owners and management can forge a close working relationship with the communities the resort serves to fully capture Mount Baldy’s beauty and unique attributes so that it can reach its full potential for the enjoyment of all who can experience this,” Powroznik continued.
“We sense from the many contacts we have made over the past two years that many people in the local communities are ready to help make this vision a true reality,” he said.
The new operator has been preparing to implement plans with a running start as the legal matters were dealt with in the lead-up to the final closing, said O’Brien.
“Now we are here and away we go,” he said.
Mount Baldy is located east of Oliver and Osoyoos and can be accessed from Oliver by McKinney Road and from Osoyoos by Highway 3.
At nearly 5,700 feet, the resort has one of the highest base elevations and it claims the most sunshine and lightest powder of any ski resort in the Okanagan.
RICHARD McGUIRE
Osoyoos Times
