Skico Says $80 Million For Snowmass Can’t Be Wrong

May 22nd, 2007 at 07:51am Michael Conniff 2

Here’s the part I don’t get: after years of pain and campaigning, why in the name of Fanny Hill would Aspen Skiing Company sell out the rights to develop Snowmass Base Village to Pat Smith?

The answer is most likely money–$169 million in the sale–because that’s the answer most every time, and I can’t be blaming Skico for wanting to make a buck—though I wonder if people who voted for the project would have changed their minds if they knew Skico was only a temporary landlord.

So I greet the news that Skico is pumping $80 million into Snowmass Ski Area improvements with mixed emotions. The number is up from $45 million, and new CEO Mike Kaplan was forced to fend of charges of selling out this week at the Snowmass Village Town Council.

“Eighty million dollars does not represent a cut-and-run operator,” he said.

But does that beg the question? Nobody is accusing Skico of leaving the valley: they’ve got three other mountains besides Snowmass to worry about. And the Crown family remains committed to a slow-growth industry and skiing in Aspen with a fervor that belies the lousy economics of the industry.

The point, it seemed to me, always had more to do with trust than anything else. Jim Crown threatened unspeakable horrors if voters didn’t approve Base Village, and then Skico sold Base Village within months. A sound business decision, no doubt, but one that just doesn’t quite taste right.

For more details on where the money’s going, check out this story by Catherine Lutz.

Entry Filed under: Snowmass Real Estate, Resorts, Aspen Skiing Company, Ski Business, Pitkin County, Base Village