Windham Mountain Going Private?

[dubstar]

Windham Mountain Club

Latest developments are troublesome at best given Windham's purposeful lack of transparent communication, and catastrophic at worst if the following information is accurate. First, we have Chip Seaman's latest message:

Hi John,

The town of Windham and Windham Mountain have seen a lot of change in the last 60 years. Every change has been received with mixed emotions – excitement, concern, anger, fear. In my experience, fear of the unknown can be real and powerful. It also tends to generate rumors and false information.

In the next few days, detailed information will be available about changes at Windham Mountain. The upgrades are incredibly exciting, the investment is unparalleled, and the aim is to create memorable experiences for generations. The vision and the plan have evolved through extensive discussion, healthy disagreement, and consideration for the varied interests that make Windham a unique and special place. The plans will not be perfect, and they will continue to evolve.

The inspired vision is only possible because the mountain does well when the town is successful, and the town does well when the mountain is successful. The overriding goal of all upcoming improvements is to provide a phenomenal experience for guests, a great place to work for employees, and support for a thriving local economy.

My family and I have been fortunate to be part of this community for 12 years and I appreciate the complexities and the enormous possibilities. My kids graduated from WAJ. The WAJ ski team and the race program at the mountain that my kids participated in will continue to be high priorities for Windham Mountain. Season passes and tickets will be available for all. Free season passes for WAJ students will continue to be provided. Our support for the Adaptive Sports Foundation, the Windham Foundation, SHRED, and others will only grow stronger.

My hope is that the Windham community will grow and prosper with this amazing new opportunity. I look forward to working and playing with all of you.

Chip Seamans
President

 

[dubstar]

Next, we have the following petition campaign:

Sign the Petition

Stop Windham Mountain from Going Private!

www.change.org

Stop Windham Mountain from Going Private!

Windham Mountain is turning into a private club by restricting the sale of day ski passes and announcing a resort master plan that calls for construction of luxury homes over existing parking lots. There are plans to build a gatehouse at the entrance to Mountain. Weddings are being suspended, and the bike park is closing.

Visits to Windham will decline. In the beginning, shorter lift lines and some improved amenities might seem nice, but there will be negative long-term effects: Restaurants and hotels will fail. The race team will not have viable athletes, parents and coaches. The Adaptive Sports Foundation and SHRED Foundation will go away, and Windham will become an enclave for just a few wealthy downstate families.

This is a bad plan for everyone. Ironically, Windham was once a private club limited to 800 members. It filed for bankruptcy in 1979. The private ski club model didn’t work then and won’t work now.

We call on Windham’s town leaders and the Greene County Legislature to push back on these plans. Save the Windham community!

 

[dubstar]

Finally, a detailed follow-up to the petition. Account needed to read, but I copied and pasted the letter:

Concern for the Windham community

To the editor:

www.hudsonvalley360.com

Concern for the Windham Community

The new owners of Windham Mountain, the Beall Family and the Kemmons Wilson Family, (together, the “New Owners”) are turning Windham into a private playground for the ultra-rich. This email lays out the evidence, why everyone in our community should be concerned, and a call to action before we suffer irreversible harm.

Evidence:

On July 7, 2023, the New Owners unveiled their “Initial Resort Master Plan

Windham Mountain Club - Home

www.windhammountain.com

This plan calls for construction of multi-million dollar homes over the existing on-site parking and the creation of a gatehouse at the entrance to Mountain. Day trippers and families with homes off-Mountain will be second class citizens, at best.

· The Mountain’s ski rental shop is closing.
· Mountain biking and snowtubing are being eliminated. These activities will be replaced with skeet shooting, racket sports and horseback riding.
· There will be no more weddings.
· The minimum lift pass for 2023-24 will be two days. There will be more limitations in the future.
· Windham Mountain Home Services is closing. Other services for existing homeowners are being curtailed.
· The Mountain wants to hand its failing water utility to the Town, further harming existing on-mountain homeowners and Windham taxpayers.

Why is this happening? The New Owners specialize in the development of private clubs and luxury resorts where families pay hundreds of thousands for memberships, and millions for homes sold on new lots. Examples include

Blackberry Farm

https://www.blackberryfarm.com/

Blackberry Mountain

https://www.blackberrymountain.com/

and Snake River Sporting Club

Homepage - Snake River Sporting Club

Members A private western resort Lodging Book a trip, plan to stay Real Estate Your own place Snake River Sporting Club represents a transporting, transcendent threshold into an oasis bordered only by river and wilderness. Intended for the enjoyment of its members, their families, and guests...

snakeriversportingclub.com

Cause for Concern:

With these plans, visits to Windham will decline. Consider the elimination of weddings and mountain biking: Fewer tourists will come in the summer. In the winter, skier days of 3,000+ will eventually turn into skier days of perhaps 600.

In the beginning, shorter lift lines and improved amenities might seem nice, but there will be negative long-term effects:

· Windham’s restaurants and lodging facilities will be underutilized. Many will fail.
· The Windham Race Factory will not have viable athletes, parents and coaches.
· The Adaptive Sports Foundation, SHRED Foundation and Windham-Ashland-Jewett student ski ticket access will end.
· Windham Mountain will become an exclusive resort for hedge funders, private equity chiefs and wealthy bankers.

It gets worse. Private ski clubs have been tried for decades, and virtually all have failed. A few high-profile bankruptcies:

Yellowstone Club

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2009/05/greed-bankruptcy-and-the-super-rich/307471/

(2008) Spanish Peaks

The Club at Spanish Peaks: Explaining the bankruptcy timeline

By Joseph T. O’Connor ExploreBigSky.com Editor BIG SKY – There hasn’t been much public news concerning the Club at Spanish Peaks since its Chapter 7 bankruptcy filing in October 2011,... READ MORE

www.explorebigsky.com

(2011), Moonlight Basin

Moonlight Files for Bankruptcy

SAM Magazine--Ennis, Mont., November 19, 2009--Moonlight Basin Ranch announced that the company and its subsidiaries filed voluntary petitions in U.S. Bank

www.saminfo.com

(2012) and Hermitage

Hermitage companies file for bankruptcy

HARTFORD, CONN. — Two companies that ran the Hermitage Club filed for voluntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy and are looking for approval for financing up to $1.75 million to reorganize. "I

www.reformer.com

(2019). Each had better snow and a longer season than Windham.

Notably, Windham was once a private club

https://vault.si.com/vault/1970/01/12/a-cold-country-club-for-the-real-cool-crowd

limited to 800 members. It filed bankruptcy in 1979

The New York Times: Wednesday August 1, 1979

The complete edition of the New York Times published on Wednesday August 1, 1979.

timesmachine.nytimes.com

That is when it started selling public tickets.

Membership in the “enhanced” private club will cost $200,000. Existing members of Wintergreen and the Windham Club will be “invited” to join the new club for a membership fee of only six figures more than they already paid. And when this club fails, just like it did before? The “investment” from members will be lost.

The New Owners have no experience managing ski resorts. Their experiment in our town will be a disaster for everyone involved.

Call to Action:

Demand that the New Owners respond to our concerns. But beware of appeasement. Any assurances from the New Owners need to be enforceable and binding.

Councilmen Kurt Goettsche and Ian Peters must resign from either the Town Board or their employment at Windham Mountain. Their involvement with both is a serious conflict of interest while our Town is threatened.

The rest of the Town Board, Planning Board and Zoning Commission must insist on economic feasibility studies for the Mountain’s desired land use and development.

Town leaders need to hire lawyers and outside experts to protect us. This will cost money. They will need voter and community support.

The Greene County Legislature must oppose Windham Mountain’s privatization efforts.

When assurances from the New Owners fall short, Chip Seamans, Windham’s President, should resign in protest. He should not tarnish his good legacy with the destruction of our community.

Community members can sign the

The world’s platform for change

Change.org is the world’s largest petition platform, using technology to empower more than 200 million users to create the change they want to see.

change.org

petition voicing their concern

Sign the Petition

Stop Windham Mountain from Going Private / Semi-Private!

www.change.org

Speak up. Be heard. More to come.

Simon Saez
Windham, New York

 

[dubstar]

To bring this back to Plattekill, the letter mentions daily ski visits of 3,000 plus declining to 600 (non-club member daily visits) as a result of the changes. from public mountain to effectively private.. It's almost certain that a certain percentage of those displaced will end up at Plattekill. Hunter and Belleayre will also absorb some of the displaced crowds of course, but the effective removal of Windham as a central player in the region will certainly be a tipping point for the three remaining public mountains.

 

[Harvey]

When I saw this on IG, I got a chill, and suspected this was happening:

View this content on Instagram

View this content on Instagram

Windham has been moving in this direction.

I haven't read all of this carefully yet. But a few initial thoughts.

I can see why this would cause concern for some of the Windham faithful.

It does seem like a conflict to have Windham employees making decisions about this on town council. Resign or maybe recuse on this specific issue.

Bigger picture, how do you determine when government or other groups can dictate how you run your business or use your own land?

Every mountain is looking for ways to insulate their business from the vagaries of weather based business.

I feel like this should be a separate thread.

 

[Campgottagopee]

Bigger picture, how do you determine when government or other groups can dictate how you run your business or use your own land?

Amen

 

[billyb3]

Home - Windham Mountain Club

This is Windham Mountain Club: your all-season escape into Upstate New York’s premier wintersport, culinary, and memory-making destination for generations to come.

windhammountainclub.com

"Say Goodbye To Windham Mountain"....ha! What a weird tagline for the website...

Seems like the main change is 2-day minimum tickets on peak weekends (although I didn't see a definition for peak weekends). I don't hate that idea if it helps with crowding, but everything else about this is the opposite of what I want at a ski area.

 

[MarzNC]

Apparently from the Master Plan

· The Mountain’s ski rental shop is closing.
· Mountain biking and snowtubing are being eliminated. These activities will be replaced with skeet shooting, racket sports and horseback riding.
· There will be no more weddings.

If this comes to pass, that would certainly change the nature of Windham as a 4-season resort for non-members. I would think property owners would be interested in mountain biking and snow tubing if they have children or are simply adventurous adults.

 

[Harvey]

Latest developments are troublesome at best given Windham's purposeful lack of transparent communication, and catastrophic at worst if the following information is accurate. First, we have Chip Seaman's latest message:

Hi John,

The town of Windham and Windham Mountain have seen a lot of change in the last 60 years. Every change has been received with mixed emotions – excitement, concern, anger, fear. In my experience, fear of the unknown can be real and powerful. It also tends to generate rumors and false information.

In the next few days, detailed information will be available about changes at Windham Mountain. The upgrades are incredibly exciting, the investment is unparalleled, and the aim is to create memorable experiences for generations. The vision and the plan have evolved through extensive discussion, healthy disagreement, and consideration for the varied interests that make Windham a unique and special place. The plans will not be perfect, and they will continue to evolve.

The inspired vision is only possible because the mountain does well when the town is successful, and the town does well when the mountain is successful. The overriding goal of all upcoming improvements is to provide a phenomenal experience for guests, a great place to work for employees, and support for a thriving local economy.

My family and I have been fortunate to be part of this community for 12 years and I appreciate the complexities and the enormous possibilities. My kids graduated from WAJ. The WAJ ski team and the race program at the mountain that my kids participated in will continue to be high priorities for Windham Mountain. Season passes and tickets will be available for all. Free season passes for WAJ students will continue to be provided. Our support for the Adaptive Sports Foundation, the Windham Foundation, SHRED, and others will only grow stronger.

My hope is that the Windham community will grow and prosper with this amazing new opportunity. I look forward to working and playing with all of you.

Chip Seamans
President

The tone of this letter certainly indicates that Chip expects some blowback. (Bold added by me).

 

[Milo Maltbie]

I think this is just a rebranding, and they're doubling down on high prices and real estate. Windham has always resisted the cheap season pass strategy that most other ski areas have followed for the last 10 years. It will be interesting to see how they treat all the retired cops and firemen around there, and WAJ school kids. I'm guessing they're just looking to raise prices enough to control the crowds and keep the on-mountain property owners happy, but if they're smart they'll make some concessions to keep the locals from rebelling and taxing them to death.
OTOH it's a red flag when new owners change everything before they understand what people like about the place. The fact that they kept Chip Seamans on is a good sign that there will be some continuity with the past business strategy.

mm