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The Mountain Meadows area, with Mount Lassen in the background, sits below the proposed ski resort and golf course development of Dyer Mountain.
Owners of a Lassen County ski resort proposal have been granted another reprieve from a foreclosure sale, leaving the future of the massive development up in the air.
Dyer Mountain Associates proposed 4,000 homes, three golf courses, and a ski resort on about 7,000 acres of forest land near Lake Almanor. Both the development itself, and its recent financial troubles, haven’t gone unnoticed in the Tahoe area.
Financial troubles led the lender, California Mortgage and Realty, to issue a foreclosure sale notice originally slated for Feb. 4 to recoup the nearly $16 million debt.
But Dyer Mountain Associates have successfully extended the deadline in hopes of putting together funding to hold onto the property.
“Originally it was slated to go up for sale last Monday, then they got two days, and two more days, and then they got 14 days,” said Steve Robinson, president and executive officer of Mountain Meadows Conservancy, an opponent of the project. “We’re just waiting for them to foreclose.”
Currently the foreclosure sale date is set at Feb. 22, Robinson said.
“Our advisors and mortgage bankers I’ve spoken to have said if they don’t have the money now, they’re never going to get it,” he said. “We’ve waited for seven years, waiting two more weeks isn’t going to hurt.”
Mountain Meadows Conservancy, along with Sierra Club and Sierra Watch, have brought suit against the developer and the Lassen County Board of Supervisors to stop the development, Robinson said in a previous interview, and if development continues under a new owner if and when the project sells, the lawsuit will follow it.
Locally, ski resorts have been following Dyer Mountain’s progress.
“The ski industry is a relatively small industry, so nationally the industry is probably keeping tabs on this,” said Tom Murphy, vice president and director of resource development for Squaw Valley U.S.A. “So few new resorts actually come to fruition.”
Creating a new ski resort is a more difficult proposition today because of government regulation and environmental opposition, Murphy said.
If able to move forward, Dyer Mountain could become competition for Tahoe-area resorts, said Greg Murtha, director of marketing and sales for Sugar Bowl Ski Resort, but said it wouldn’t have the same proximity to Sacramento and the Bay Area as Tahoe.
Murtha said Dyer Mountain’s financial difficulties aren’t surprising in the ski industry.
“Ski business is a very capital-intensive business, it’s tricky even for people who have been around,” he said.
Dyer Mountain Associates proposed 4,000 homes, three golf courses, and a ski resort on about 7,000 acres of forest land near Lake Almanor. Both the development itself, and its recent financial troubles, haven’t gone unnoticed in the Tahoe area.
Financial troubles led the lender, California Mortgage and Realty, to issue a foreclosure sale notice originally slated for Feb. 4 to recoup the nearly $16 million debt.
But Dyer Mountain Associates have successfully extended the deadline in hopes of putting together funding to hold onto the property.
“Originally it was slated to go up for sale last Monday, then they got two days, and two more days, and then they got 14 days,” said Steve Robinson, president and executive officer of Mountain Meadows Conservancy, an opponent of the project. “We’re just waiting for them to foreclose.”
Currently the foreclosure sale date is set at Feb. 22, Robinson said.
“Our advisors and mortgage bankers I’ve spoken to have said if they don’t have the money now, they’re never going to get it,” he said. “We’ve waited for seven years, waiting two more weeks isn’t going to hurt.”
Mountain Meadows Conservancy, along with Sierra Club and Sierra Watch, have brought suit against the developer and the Lassen County Board of Supervisors to stop the development, Robinson said in a previous interview, and if development continues under a new owner if and when the project sells, the lawsuit will follow it.
Locally, ski resorts have been following Dyer Mountain’s progress.
“The ski industry is a relatively small industry, so nationally the industry is probably keeping tabs on this,” said Tom Murphy, vice president and director of resource development for Squaw Valley U.S.A. “So few new resorts actually come to fruition.”
Creating a new ski resort is a more difficult proposition today because of government regulation and environmental opposition, Murphy said.
If able to move forward, Dyer Mountain could become competition for Tahoe-area resorts, said Greg Murtha, director of marketing and sales for Sugar Bowl Ski Resort, but said it wouldn’t have the same proximity to Sacramento and the Bay Area as Tahoe.
Murtha said Dyer Mountain’s financial difficulties aren’t surprising in the ski industry.
“Ski business is a very capital-intensive business, it’s tricky even for people who have been around,” he said.
Dyer Mountain proposal, by the numbers
7,100: Total acreage
4,000: Homes 3: Golf courses 5,080: Base elevation in feet, ski resort 7,480: Peak elevation in feet, ski resort |
