Monday Business Roundup
Ski Resorts Invest Millions in Improvements
By Richard Martin, 10-22-07
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| This is what the mountain cam at Red Tail Camp at Beaver Creek showed Monday morning at 9:00. Click the photo for the mountain cam, which is updated every five minutes. | |
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This weekend saw the first significant snowfall of the winter, with Vail getting eight inches overnight on Saturday-Sunday and Beaver Creek nine. In an effort to set a third consecutive record for total skier visits this season, Colorado’s ski resorts are investing hundreds of millions of dollars in improvements to ski slopes and to base-village amenities this year.
Beginning the massive reconstruction of Snowmass Village, the new $17 million Treehouse Kids’ Adventure Center will open next month. The resort has also relocated and expanded its terrain park. A Basin received final approval over the summer to construct the new Zuma Lift, part of the Montezuma Bowl expansion project. Expected to open at Beaver Creek this season is the new Riverfront Express Gondola, which will whisk visitors staying in Avon to Beaver Creek Landing in three minutes. The Riverfront Express is part of a $500 million project whose centerpiece, the Westin Riverfront Resort & Spa, will open next summer.
Also enjoying a new base-village gondola is Breckenridge, where the BreckConnect will have its first full season in 2007-08. The new gondola is the beginning of two new base villages at Peaks 7 and 8.
The biggest redevelopment is taking place at Steamboat Springs, where nearly $1 billion in new lodging and a transformation of the base village will be invested over the next several years, under the umbrella of “Steamboat Unbridled.” “Intrawest, which bought Steamboat Ski Resort in March, continues to pump money into the area,” reports the Post. Debuting this season is the new six-passenger Christie Peak express.
Last season 12.5 million people skied or boarded at Colorado’s snowsports resort, setting a new record for the second year in a row. Officials are hoping to near the 13 million mark for 2007-08. They could be helped by early snow during TV broadcasts of the Colorado Rockies in the World Series, which begins Wednesday.
In other business news:
-- The third quarter of 2007 saw the second highest three-month mark for Colorado venture-capital funding since 2003, according to the latest MoneyTree Report from PricewaterhouseCoopers and the National Venture Capital Association. Twenty-four Colorado startups received $196.6 million in funding from July through September. Leading the way was the life sciences industry, which includes biotech firms and medical device and equipment makers.
-- Last week the new Nordstrom opened at the Cheery Creek Shopping Center in Denver, making the Cherry Creek mall one of only six in the U.S. that boast a Nordstrom, Saks Fifth Avenue, Nieman Marcus and Macy’s, according to the Denver Business Journal. The 140,000 square-foot department occupies the space formerly inhabited by Lord & Taylor.
-- Also doing well are Colorado casinos, which posted a 4.6 percent revenue gain in September, totaling $73 million in gross revenue. In September 2006 the gaming industry in the state grossed $69.8 million.
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Comments
Roughly 2 million skiers logged 12 million visits last year. Up in the hills, those ski bums rack up 100-day seasons. Vacationers bag at least a week or so. The average use of the Colorado / Buddy / WP-Copper pass is 10 visits and Vail Resorts and Intrawest sell about a half million of those combined.