Judge: Vail Resorts has rights to Park City ski resort
By Jason Blevins, Denver Post
A Utah District Court ruled Wednesday that Park City Mountain Resort officials failed to renew their historic lease for a majority of their ski terrain and the landowner is allowed to lease the ski area’s upper terrain to a new operator.
That means Vail Resorts just won the rights to more than two-thirds of the land beneath Utah’s most popular ski area. And it means that Park City Mountain Resort owner Powdr Corp. will go down in history as captaining the ski industry’s most costly clerical error: a days-late filing to renew their decades-old, sweetheart lease could forever change their flagship ski area, which has seen Powdr invest more than $100 million.
Powdr Corp. argued it was an “honest mistake” when the resort operator was a couple days late filing paperwork to renew its lease for land beneath Park City Mountain Resort. It was paying landowner Talisker Corp. about $150,000 a year for the land, per the series of 20-year leases first forged in the 1970s. For comparison, Vail Resorts is paying Talisker $25 million a year plus a percentage of revenue every year to lease the adjacent 4,000-acre Canyons ski area.
Talisker refused to sign a new lease with Powdr and went looking for a new tenant. Powdr sued Talisker to force a new deal. Talisker leased Canyons to Vail Resorts on the condition that the continent’s largest resort operator takes over the Park City Mountain Resort legal battle, calling Vail Resorts a “dramatically better operator” than Powdr.
…and the big get BIGGER!
Wonder how many heads rolled at POWDR afterward.
Reminds one of when the City of SLT forgot to timely exercise the renewal option for its lease on the old city hall building and council chambers on Lake Tahoe Blvd., and had to move to the airport.
Well, nobody has ever said that Vail was not good at what they do, especially if it enhances their control over more and more. The proverbial 800 pound gorilla.
Count on the prices of skiing to contiuue to rise, and it will become more and more of a 1 percenter activity. Is it possible that Vail could get so big it hits a ceiling? The weather, and the economy will be the forces to look at in the future.
And when will the County and City of SLT begin to look at collecting some taxes or fees that should have been being paid for years?
Key Quote from article:
And indeed, if Vail Resorts hopes to access the Powdr-owned base area village of Park City, it will require negotiations between the two operators.
and: Cumming has said that he would not allow Vail Resorts to access his private land at the base of Park City ski area if the court ruled against him.
This will hurt the town of Park City. What’s next is appeal, if they lose that, then expect PC resort to not play nice with Vail, which in turn will keep skiers off the upper slopes.
Looking to have nightmarish consequences for the foreseeable future.
AND there goes another victim to corporate BS.
Nothing they touch turns to gold except for them…GREED and GREEDIER. They have zero interest in anything but the almighty dollars they siphon. I never frequent any place that they touch.