Park City to pay $17.5 mil. bond to keep lifts running
By Daniel Fisher, Forbes
Park City Mountain Resort has agreed to pay $17.5 million bond to keep the ski lifts running this year, postponing a showdown with rival Vail Resorts over who will operate one of the nation’s most popular ski areas.
Park City’s owner, closely held Powdr Corp., faced the potential loss of most of its skiable acreage after somebody in the organization mistakenly allowed the company’s $150,000-a-year lease on the mountaintop — arguably Park City’s single most valuable asset — expire in 2011. Vail pounced on the situation last year, signing a $25 million-a-year lease with the neighboring Canyons resort and taking over litigation against Powdr with an eye toward ejecting it from the site and combining the two into a single ski area.
Things didn’t exactly go Vail’s way, however. In an Aug. 27 hearing over the bond, Judge Ryan Harris expressed extreme skepticism over Vail’s claim landowner Talisker was entitled to more than $100 million to protect it against losses from Park City’s continued use of the mountain top. Not only does Park City own the parking areas, base amenities and water supply for snowmaking, but Talisker traded away the development rights on the land so it can be used for little other than skiing.