HoliMont looking to expand

[William Wilson]

HoliMont looking to expand

By GEORGE NIANIATUS, Times Herald Business Editor

12/16/2005

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While already the largest private ski club in North America, HoliMont in Ellicottville is planning to get even bigger through a $9 million expansion project.

HoliMont manager David Riley told The Times Herald on Thursday the board of directors approved an expansion plan that will build a new lodge and parking lot, add three ski slopes and one ski lift, and construct more than 160 ski-in, ski-out single-family homes and townhouses.

Plans call for actual construction to begin in 2007, Mr. Riley said.

Project funding will primarily come from the presale of 93 single-family homes and 71 townhouses that will be built along the slopes, said Sheldon Frank, HoliMont's board president and chairman of the club's Long Range Planning Committee.

"This is the largest expansion project HoliMont has ever embarked on," Mr. Frank said. "It will be done over a series of phases in a five- to seven-year span."

HoliMont, incorporated in 1964, has continued to grow over the years, prompting the need to expand. It currently has 1,400 memberships with a total of 4,600 members, said Mr. Riley.

Although a private club, HoliMont allows public skiing weekdays, a feature that has helped increase its use.
In the past few years, the club has begun to outgrow many of its facilities, particularly the main lodge and parking lot, Mr. Riley said.

"We want to build another lodge at a separate location," Mr. Riley said, noting, "One of the constraints is we wanted to fix the infrastructure at HoliMont. We have outgrown things."

Once the new lodge is built, "We'll move the ski school and rentals there," Mr. Riley said.

Mr. Frank said the new building "will be a day lodge for groups."

As part of HoliMont's overall project, the current main lodge will have its kitchen expanded, Mr. Riley said.
The current lodge "will remain the focal point" of HoliMont, Mr. Frank said.

Meanwhile, HoliMont is seeking to gain permit approvals from state and local governments for the expansion project, Mr. Frank said.

"Then we'll flesh out the actual details of the plan," Mr. Riley said.

There was a time when HoliMont had a seven-year waiting list for members. "We now have a one-year waiting list," Mr. Riley said.

Annual membership dues at HoliMont are $14,095, Mr. Riley said. He noted there is an additional $100 assessment per membership for paying down debt on previous expansion projects in 2002 that included building a 3.5-megawatt co-generation power plant and installing a 6-acre reservoir to improve snowmaking capabilities.

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