Sugarloaf town houses attract lots of interest Demand for real estate at ski resort increasing

Sugarloaf/USA may be the easternmost, big-time ski area in the United States, but the Maine mountain is acting more and more like a West Coast resort.

All 28 units of the new Timbers town house project were reserved on the first day offered, leaving officials at the American Skiing Company stunned. One New England marketing consultant said it served as proof that Alpine skiing is growing in the East.

Scott Oldakowki, senior vice president of real estate sales and marketing at ASC, which owns Sugarloaf, said the company has never sold so many town houses in one day at any of its nine resorts. Research promised a high demand, Oldakowki said, but nothing like what ASC saw.

ASC expected between eight to 12 town houses reserved.

“Right out of the box, the first year, that is about somewhere two to three times the demand [expected],” Oldakowski said. “On reservation day it was first-come, first-serve basis. The doors opened at 9 a.m. When they opened, approximately 28 people were in line. Oddly, we had 28 town houses.”

Doug Kennedy, the senior associate of Snow Engineering in New Hampshire, which provides consulting for ski resorts nationwide, said the demand at Sugarloaf is the kind resorts out West experience.

“In the last few years, there has been a tremendous demand in Colorado, where as soon as the real estate is announced, they are sold out,” Kennedy said. “The market is not quite as strong in the East.”

Kennedy said the demand for real estate at ski resorts is larger out West because resorts there have fully developed villages that offer places to shop, eat, and enjoy year-round recreational activities. Kennedy said there are no such places in the East.

However, Kennedy added that a number of ski mountains, like Killington (Vt.) and Sunday River in Newry, are in the planning stages of creating such communities.

“Certainly, it would take five years to build something like that, to build a mature village,” Kennedy said. “The elements could be in place in a few years.”

There has been a growing interest in real estate at Alpine resorts nationwide because, experts say, the economy is stronger, the baby boom generation is at its peak in terms of earning potential, and, as Kennedy put it, second homes are “the one thing people dream about.”

Tim White at the National Ski Areas Association in Colorado echoed that sentiment.

“Second homes seem to be popular,” White said. “People think it’s great when they think of bringing the family to the slopes that it’s a great place to have a home.”

Most of the interest in Sugarloaf’s new town houses is from instate.

Oldakowski said about 20 of the 28 reservation holders are from Maine, roughly six are from Massachusetts and two are from Canada. Many of the interested buyers in Maine are from the Portland area.

After the final plans are completed and prices are assigned, the town houses will be sold to reservation holders in the next two weeks. Units that are not bought will be released for sale to the public.

Ultimately, there will be 78 town houses offered in the three-phase project. The Timbers town houses will be located adjacent to the resort’s superquad high speed express lift, a short walk to the resort’s shops and services. The first 28 are expected to be built by next winter.

If all town houses are sold, the project will produce approximately $7 million in revenues.