North Creek/Front Street Agreement on Sewage Bond

PostStar article

From the article:
"According to the agreement, Front Street must bond nearly $212,000 over five years for the sewer system’s construction costs and an additional $63,000 to cover operational and construction costs over the same term."

That is a lot more than Front Street's original proposal of about $50,000.

Yup, just like I said...

Exactly what I thought when I saw this. Shamans exact words:

Darkside Shaman wrote

In regards to the differences in the bond figures, once again FS is lowballing their numbers so as to leave more room for negotiations.

In my mind this represents a significant difference between FS and ACR. Upfront posturing, yes. But then negotiation and a settlement.

CONTENTS DELETED

Another fly in the ointment is Uncle Sam will have to raise taxes. One of the ideas being kick about is the elimination of the income tax deduction for second home mortgages, especially on expensive homes.

IMO, people seem to think the old notions still apply...." We'll grow our way out of this Gov't debt issue ". " Build it and they will come ". " Slopeside expensive homes are in demand in real estate ".

Good luck.

If FS or ACR does manage to get a few units built, they may go cheap in the near future. Savy people are well aware of this.

70s Gore Kid wrote

There is some great discusion on SnowJournal today on this topic (I know Harv, you hate when someone sends HR readers to a competing blog, by hey, we all read all of them anyway).

Someone suggested that in this horrible economy, it makes no sense for North Creek to put all its dreams on Ski Bowl Village coming to fruition anytime in the next 5 to 10 years.  They suggested more affordable lodging options --such as some new motels -- going up in the area, which would better appeal to Gore's main middle income clientele.

Given todays economic malaise, doesn't it make sense to scale back on some of these mid 2005ish housing bubble projects?  Reading about Big Tupper and the proposed "Great Camps" anymore just gives me a headache.  It's going to be years before investors or second home buyers are in the mood to build weekend getaways like that again.  If they ever were.

Affordable lodging near the base of a ski area, with units in the $125 a night range, sounds much more pragmatic in today's economy.  Call me bland.  I call it realistic.

Kid - Neither Gore or North Creek is responsible for the Ski Bowl Village. The developer is going to to what they think will make them the most money. What you want is what many of us want - affordable slopeside/shuttle ride lodging.
But I think what they plan to build will be in line with other slopeside prices at other East coast areas. Some of the 5 planned hotels might be full share/1/4 share/time share condo type hotels that might provide $125/night lodging(although I doubt it).


Maybe you need to call Front Street, make an offer for the land and put up the affordable lodging.  

Hey, not to hijack it too much but in support of what I wrote above.....

" At 2:36 p.m. EDT, benchmark U.S. gold futures for December delivery were at $1,753.50 per ounce in post-session trading, up 2.4 percent, after rallying as much as 3 percent initially on the Fed statement. December gold earlier hit a record high of $1,782.50 during Tuesday's official session. "

http://news.yahoo.com/gold-hits-1-778-biggest-3-day-rally-140853202.html

Wholly Snikey!!! Pull Granny's gold filled teeth.

Not very long ago, people on here were wondering when gold would return to the $1000 mark. Someone, not saying who , said the $2000 mark was more likely.

FS and ACR may wanna wait awhile.

I think more affordable lodging in North Creek makes a lot of sense. While I don't understand it, I know plenty of people who stay in Lake George to ski Gore to save $49 a night (or whatever) vs staying in North Creek at the Copperfield or other options.

From what I've seen North Creek isn't pinning all it's hopes on the Ski Bowl. At least not the merchants I know at Cafe Sara, Gear Source, Rustic Homestead, North Creek Rafting and others. I think they assume life will continue to require a lot of hard work.

I wouldn't be surprised if Front Street isn't in a big hurry. I wouldn't be. I do think the goal at Front Street is to eventually produce a viable community and make some money in the process.  IMO ACR has a different business model.

With regard to gold ... it is a bit of thread drift. But it's also relevant too, when talking about real estate or any long term plans for the future.  If you watch cable news at all — and I admit I watch too much — it's a perfect environment for selling gold. It's non-stop fear. Think of the price of gold as the fear index. The higher the price, the more fear is permeating the economy.  When gold prices rise steeply and consistently you are going to see a lot of suffering in the US and worldwide. People who put large amounts into gold, are betting against all of us. I hope they are wrong.

For the record, the internet and social media (I include forums in that category) run on links. At it's most basic level the internet is really just a huge collection of links. Contributors to the forum should post any link that they link adds to the dialog. As a webmaster, out of respect to another webmaster, I 'm careful about posting links from other forums to this forum.  But members of this forum should feel free to post any link on NY Ski Forums that they think add value to a discussion here. I haven't done this for very long, but it's pretty easy to distinguish contributions from spam. Kid you are definitely a valuable contributor and should post whatever links you like. SnowJournal is an especially open community, and that comes down from top. Jeremy really "gets it" when it comes to social media.

Harvey44 wrote

 If you watch cable news at all — and I admit I watch too much

 

Yea, it's hard to resist the wit, charm and world class beauty of Robin Meade.

She gets my AAA+ rating. Hehehe.

The numbers FS lowballed for the bonds are typical of any developer. They are trying to keep their up front costs to a minimum. I know I'm thread drifting a little but the ACR will most likely be looking at the same scenario only in their case it will be on steroids. Their proposal shows the first phase will need to borrow 10 MILLION from the Franklin county IDA for Sewer, Water, Road infrastructure.  The APA has listed as part of their proposed permit conditions that a performance Bond for this amount be obtained by the developer. That will never happen as any Insurance company issuing that type of bond will look for securtiy from the developer before they even consider it. Front Street may have a good chance of obtaining that type of bond but ACR has zero chance with the Foxs' failed S & L and his partner/investors Federal Tax Liens and their default of payment on their current property and school taxes. IMO FS should proceed slowly in the current economy and ACR should bail on the current plan and start over or give up altogether.