Not that the average skier or snowboarder will notice the difference, but the sale of venerable Brighton Resort was announced Tuesday.
Boyne Resorts, the Michigan-based company that has operated Brighton for more than two decades, is buying the Big Cottonwood Canyon resort and five others from Ski Resort Holdings, an affiliate of Oz Real Estate. The sales price was not disclosed.
Oz bought these six ski resorts — and seven others — last April from CNL Lifestyle Properties, a real estate investment trust in Florida, for $374.5 million.
Boyne originally bought Brighton in 1986, then sold it to CNL in 2007 but continued to operate the resort under a lease.
(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Boyne Resorts, the Michigan-based company that has operated Brighton for more than two decades, is buying the Big Cottonwood Canyon resort in a deal announced Tuesday.
“Our intention all along has been to regain and acquire ownership of these resorts,” said Stephen Kircher, president and CEO of Boyne, founded in 1947 and now the third largest mountain resort company in North America.
“Boyne Resorts has been a longtime operator of these assets — some for decades — [and] poses no business interruption or integration risk,” he added, predicting the ownership change will “accelerate and fine tune the execution of our reinvestment plans … which will boost our competitive advantage.”
Added Brighton spokesman Jared Winkler: “We don’t anticipate any changes.”
Also purchased by Boyne were Sugarloaf and Sunday River resorts in Maine; The Summit at Snoqualmie near Seattle; Cypress Mountain in Vancouver, B.C.; and Loon Mountain in New Hampshire. In addition, the sale included Gatlinburg Sky Lift in Tennessee.
Closure of the sale is expected before next winter, Kircher said, once regulatory approvals are secured.
