Meet the new boss. Same as the old boss.
That will quite literally be the case at Cypress Mountain Resort, when a deal by Boyne Resorts to reacquire the rights to operate the commercial ski resort on the mountain goes through later this year.
Boyne recently announced it has a deal to buy rights to the West Vancouver ski resort – which operates from Black Mountain and Mount Strachan in Cypress Bowl Provincial Park – from Ski Resort Holdings, an affiliate of Oz Real Estate, a U.S. financial firm. Oz acquired the rights to the ski hill just a year ago, as part of a US$244-million deal involving 13 other resorts across the U.S.
This month’s deal involving Cypress is part of an agreement by Boyne to acquire six mountain resorts. Boyne already operates Cypress under a long-term sub-lease that has been in place to run the ski resort under the past two owners. The company, based in Michigan, is the third-largest mountain resort company in North America.
Boyne previously owned the rights to Cypress after buying them from local businessman Wayne Booth in 2001. The company later sold the rights to CNL Lifestyle Properties, which sold to Oz Real Estate in the spring of 2017.
The Cypress ski area was originally run by the province as part of the provincial park, created in 1975. Although the province still owns the land, the rights to operate a commercial ski hill were privatized in 1984, when the B.C. government issued a 50-year renewal park use permit to operate, develop and improve the alpine and Nordic ski areas within the park.
All assets like buildings, lifts and equipment within the park area are owned by the chief lease holder. The deal is expected to close later this year, ahead of the 2018/2019 ski season.
