Click to enlarge: Silver Creek, Snowshoe (2), Tory Mountain
Silver Creek, West Virginia (1988, 1986, 1985)
Silver Creek is a regional resort serving the Washington DC, Virginia Tidewater area. The resort was built in 1984 with a loan from a California S&L. The resort was built in less than six months with significant cost overruns and little financial control. The failure of the S&L put the resort under the control of the FDIC. The appraisal included a 236 unit condominium hotel and a medium sized ski area with a shortage of expert terrain. The appraisal also included a large parcel of development land. Again, the appraisal had to analyze the operation of a troubled resort and also consider the value of the development land. At the time of the appraisal, the resort was in bankruptcy and foreclosure.
In 1988, after the resort was sold to new investors, we prepared valuations of the various types of condominium units in the hotel.
Tory Mountain, West Virginia (1986)
Tory Mountain was a proposed West Virginia ski resort when we appraised it along with Ted Farwell & Associates in 1986. It has never been constructed. Closser Associates performed the appraisal of the proposed real estate developments while Farwell & Associates analyzed the ski operations. At the time of our appraisal, ski runs had been cleared, an access road built and a maintenance building constructed. Project feasibility was a critical question in this analysis, as the market for recreational real estate developments at the time was burdened by overbuilding and consequent failures at condominium developments at nearby Snowshoe and Silver Creek resorts.
Snowshoe Resort, West Virginia (1985, 1984)
Snowshoe Resort was in bankruptcy in the late 1980's when we appraised it for the secured creditors. A number of years of mismanagement had left the resort in a poor state of maintenance and a trend of declining skier visits. The challenge in this assignment was to look past the current situation in order to project the performance of the resort under competent management. This assignment included visits to competing resorts and interviews with their management. We also employed an engineering firm to provide us with a assessment of the condition of lifts, snowmaking and grooming equipment. Bruce Closser testified in deposition and in Federal Bankruptcy Court in this case. Based on our appraisal which showed that a return to profitability was possible, the resort was put under new management and operated by the creditors for several years. After profitable operations were restored, the resort was sold to a Japanese company.
Proposed Blue Ridge Reserve, Harpers Ferry, West Virginia (1993, 1983)
In this case, which involved the condemnation of a part of a large parcel of vacant land, the owner claimed that the site was a potential ski resort and that the taking would destroy the feasibility of the proposed resort. Closser Associates was retained by the U. S. Department of Justice to prepare a highest-and-best-use study to determine whether the development of a ski resort on the site represented its highest and best use Following the study Bruce Closser testified in deposition and at trial in Federal District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia.
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