Industry News
Burke Mountain Resort, located just outside Lyndon, VT in the northeastern part of the state, is for sale.
What’s included in the sale?
- Burke Mountain (Ski) Resort
- 116-room Burke Mountain Hotel and Conference Center
- 2 ski lodges
- 1,608 acres of land
The $18.7 million sale price was upheld by the Burke Board of Civil Authority. The appraised valuation was in question after lawyers for the ski area indicated the price was too high. Burke Mountain lawyers had argued that the resort has been running at a significant loss and is expected to lose money this year as well.
Why is the ski area being sold? After being bought by the owners of Jay Peak Ski Resort in 2012, the SEC started investigating the owner’s use of the EB-5 program for funding improvements to the resorts. The owners, Ariel Quiros, and Bill Stenger, used some of the funds for personal expenses and were indicted by a grand jury. The case is ongoing, but in the meantime, Burke Mountain, as well as Jay Peak, are in the hands of a federal-appointed receiver.
Related: “Former Jay Peak Resort, VT Owner Indicted On Federal Charges in Multi-Million Dollar Fraud Case“
While it’s been rumored that a larger company like Alterra Mountain Company or Vail Resorts may step in and purchase Jay Peak, the future for Burke remains uncertain. Burke has two high-speed quad chairlifts that are less than 20 years old, and a brand new hotel, Q Burke, that is finished but hasn’t opened yet. With the list price finalized, I’m sure we’ll hear some rumors over the next year and maybe even a sale.
As an East Burke native and business owned, I am jaw dropping baffled by Burke Mountain. The mountain’s receivership has been going on for almost six tiresome years, but of course one must not forget that the Miami based Reciever is making millions upon millions of dollars per year off of his “management” of the resort.
Rumor has it that back during the Trump administration, the power at being didn’t want to put the mountain on the market as he was still trying to get the EB5 investors Green Cards, thus, feet were dragged until the Biden Administration took over in an attempt to get the investors their Green Cards.
However, what baffles me is that at the end of the day, the law is the law is the law… the EB5 visa investment program was an “at risk” investment. Similar to the stock market, there were no guarantees that investors would recoup their money plus receive their Green Cards. As I understand it, the law governing EB5 is pretty clear that investors have three years from the date of their investment to create the necessary job requirements for their Green Cards. If the jobs were not created in this time period, it was what it was, hence the “at risk” investment designation.
Unfortunately, the future of Burke Mountain being in limbo for so long has caused the rest of the community to financially remain stagnant. This is just a true shame as although media outlets have reported on the plight of the EB5 investors in the fraud; in the same vein, media has been radio silent about the plight of the locals who have had their livelihoods severely effected due to the fraud and subsequent Receivership…
This is beyond frustrating with no end insight!