Written by: Matt Kretzschmar

The VTDigger has reported that Jay Peak will be going up for sale and the question is; will Vail snatch up yet another resort to add to it's ever growing empire? Michael Goldberg, the court appointed receiver in the EB-5 fraud case that involved Miami businessman Ariel Quiros and former Jay Peak CEO Bill Stenger. The forfeiture of over $81 million by Quiros due to his involvement in a Ponzi-esque scheme at the resort, has been the main driving force in the sale of Jay Peak.

Selling the resort is of great interest of all the investors since, "based on the contracts they were not entitled to the mountains,” Goldberg said. “These people signed documents that gave them an interest in partnerships, now they have full ownership of the entire resort.”

“These are assets that were not owned by the investors,” he said. “In the docs [the limited partnership agreements] they were never supposed to own them, and now they do own them and they will pick up the sale.”

After becoming the receiver for the resort in April 2016, Goldberg has done his job in restoring stability to the resort, including major repairs to the tram, paying $5 million in outstanding fees to vendors, and another $5 million to contractors. Investing into new features of the resort has gone quite well, as Goldberg went about adding a new lift & snowmaking equipment, more landscaping, and soccer/lacrosse fields that are slated to be done this September.

With all of these new additions, Jay Peak is looking ripe for Alterra and Vail to quarrel over during the sale period. Alterra's resort offerings line up more with Jay Peak but a Vail acquisition is never out of the question, even though Vail just bought Okemo, Sunapee, Crested Butte, and Stevens Pass for $82 million.