PORTLAND – Michigan-based Boyne USA is partnering with real estate investment trust CNL Income Properties Inc. to provide capital for improvements at the Sugarloaf USA and Sunday River ski resorts, officials said Wednesday.

Boyne USA announced in June that it would pay $77 million and assume $2 million in liabilities to buy the Maine resorts from American Skiing Co.

But Boyne sold the assets to CNL Income Properties at Tuesday’s closing. Under the arrangement, Florida-based CNL Income Properties will be the ski resorts’ owner and Boyne USA will be the operator under a 40-year lease.

Critics have said that the resorts were neglected by American Skiing Co., which fell into financial problems before selling off its resorts.

With CNL as its financial partner, Boyne USA hopes to invest in energy-efficient snowmaking equipment, replace chairlifts, expand ski terrain and add amenities, said Stephen Kircher, president of Boyne USA’s eastern operations.

The company is undertaking a master plan for both of the resorts, and Kircher declined to discuss specific improvements or timetables.

Maine Economic and Community Development Commissioner John Richardson said the anticipated capital improvements that will be made possible through CNL’s financial backing will be much appreciated by skiers across New England.

“It is going to create a tremendous buzz in both the ski and the golf markets for these two destination resorts in Maine,” Richardson said.

Kircher used hot embers from a campfire as an analogy in describing the ski resorts as being solid operations with potential for improvement. “Put the logs on the fire, and it’ll ignite,” he said. “That’s the way we see these” resorts.

Boyne USA won the bidding for Sugarloaf USA and Sunday River over a competing offer by American Skiing’s founder and former CEO Les Otten, who quit the board and sold his stake in the Boston Red Sox so he could bid for the resorts.

Otten declined to comment Wednesday other than to say that he was surprised that a real estate investment trust – not Boyne USA – would be owning the resorts.

CNL, based in Orlando, Fla., owns several ski resorts from Maine to California, including Bretton Woods and Loon Mountain in New Hampshire, and more than 30 golf courses and attractions.

CNL focuses primarily on recreation and lifestyle properties. Sugarloaf and Sunday River mark CNL’s first investment in properties in Maine.

For family-owned Boyne USA, the deal gives it a foothold in the Northeast, something the company has always wanted, Kircher said.

Geographic diversity is key in allowing ski resort companies to avoid problems if a certain part of the country suffers from a poor winter.

“We’re spread from coast to coast, from the Pacific Northwest through the central Rockies and on to the East,” Kircher said in a telephone interview from Boyne Falls, Mich. “We’ve talked about being in the East for decades.”