It doesn’t look like Mt. Baldy ski hill will be opening any time soon, judging by what has been going on in the courts. Richard McGuire photo
Local skiers can look forward to winter this year at Mount Baldy, following a B.C. Supreme Court decision Monday that clears the way for a sale of the resort to a new buyer.
The court approved the sale of the bankrupt resort’s assets to 1063205 B.C. Ltd., who will do business as Baldy Mountain Resort.
Joey O’Brien, an experienced resort operator, will be the managing director.
The principal investor is Victor Tsao, a Vancouver-based Chinese-Canadian lawyer.
Mount Baldy closed during the 2013-14 season after its American owners ran into financial difficulties.
The resort opened again in January 2015 when Fred Johnston and Baldy Capital Corporation operated it while unsuccessfully trying to buy it.
After negotiations with Johnston collapsed, another investor teamed up with O’Brien to put in an offer, but that investor pulled out when Johnston threatened a protracted court battle.
The resort stayed closed for the 2015-16 ski season.
Gary Powroznik, of G-Force Group, has been the receiver for the resort since December 2014 and since then he has been seeking a qualified buyer to acquire the resort’s assets and operate it.
He has been working with the new buyer, Tsao, since January 2016, shortly after other potential deals fell through.
O’Brien, who was one of the first to respond after a public call for buyers in July 2014, has been working with Powroznik over the past year to attract a suitable investor.
“We are very pleased to have found a purchaser with the financial and operational capability to restart the ski operation and lay a solid foundation for a sustainable resort for the community,” Powroznik said in a news release Monday.
Powroznik said former manager Matt Koenig will continue to be involved.
Baldy Mountain Resort plans to complete the purchase as quickly as possible so it can immediately start pre-season activities to ready the resort before the 2016-17 ski season.
“They want to move pretty quickly,” said Powroznik. “We’re hoping within the next 10 days, but it remains to be seen.”
Powroznik said the court approval, which was not opposed, as well as a May court proceeding to return most assets in Baldy Capital Corporation’s possession, were legal obstacles that had to be cleared to allow the sale to go through.
O’Brien said the first step is to get the resort up and running before the new management can get going on improvements.
This means getting the lifts and other equipment in good working order.
“The mountain has had basically what I call eight or 10 years of maintenance-free activity,” said O’Brien. “Frankly I expect a lot of ghosts to jump out of closets. The first thing we have to do is get it functional before we start improving it.”
O’Brien said it looks like it’s been close to a decade since the hills have had a “significant haircut,” or clearing away of vegetation.
By removing vegetation, it should be possible to open the resort with between 60 and 70 centimetres of snow rather than two metres, said O’Brien.
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.
“I’m hoping that the community embraces these guys and really supports them, because I think they’re a good group,” said Powroznik. “I’m hoping the community is going to rally around these guys because we think that Baldy can really hum.”
O’Brien said he intends to adapt a development plan for the resort that was prepared in 2005 and is based on real estate sales. He wants to take into account lessons learned since then by other resorts.
The older plan, he said, tends to be car focused, for example, contributing to situations where people enjoy a meal with wine, but then have to drive to where they are staying. That’s a problem in many ways, he said, suggesting this would be changed.
Tsao was born and raised in China and studied in Japan before relocating to Canada. In addition to English, he is also fluent in Mandarin Chinese and Japanese.
He advises numerous Canadian, Chinese and Japanese clients on business matters. Before beginning his legal career, he co-founded businesses in information technology, software development and real estate leasing and management.
RICHARD McGUIRE
Osoyoos Times
