East Burke, Vermont — After years of being under federal receivership, Burke Mountain Resort will be sold by the end of this year—for real this time. We think.
VT Digger reports that the federal receiver, Michael Goldberg, has received a bid to purchase the property. He also believes that more bids could be coming soon. An auction would follow, led by the initial bidder (the “stalking horse” bid) and followed by incremental bids. The ultimate goal is to sell the ski resort by the end of this year.
The one odd part of this is that they basically said the same thing last year and originally intended to sell Burke Mountain by the end of 2023. Goldberg didn’t give a reason why the sale process has been delayed.
Burke Mountain went into receivership due to the much-publicized EB-5 situation in the Northeast Kingdom. The EB-5 saga is convoluted, so I recommend reading this article from The New Yorker for more information. To sum it up in a fairly long sentence, foreign investments meant to fund projects in the Northeast Kingdom in exchange for U.S. citizenship were misused by Ariel Quiros and his cronies, leading to lawsuits and jail time. Jay Peak was also under receivership but was sold to Pacific Group Resorts Inc. in 2022.
This latest development is good news because Burke Mountain needs to be sold ASAP.
The latest example of why it needs to be sold soon is the delayed opening of their lift-serviced mountain biking park. Burke Mountain is in the middle of Kingdom Trails, an extensive network of mountain biking trails. At Burke, there are numerous cross-country and mountain biking trails, some of which are lift-serviced by the Sherburne Express chairlift.
This chairlift has become a maintenance nightmare for Burke, with frequent downtime. Due to another maintenance issue for Sherburne, they haven’t been able to open for lift-serviced mountain biking this summer. The biking trails are open, but people have to pedal up.
The place needs a major cash infusion. Burke Mountain needs at least one new lift, as Sherburne should probably be replaced soon. It’s got some great foundational pieces, though, such as great lift ticket deals, its trails/glades, and the Burke Mountain Hotel.
We’ll keep you posted on when Burke Mountain is sold and to whom.
Image Credits: Burke Mountain Resort