In recent years, global warming, discount flights to the tropics, and competition from large resorts in Quebec have all taken their toll on business at Vermont’s ski towns. But two holiday destinations, Stowe and Smugglers’ Notch, are fighting back.
The two resorts are investing in residential developments and amenities to increase tourism and draw more vacation homebuyers.
Located in central Vermont about an hour east of Burlington, Stowe Mountain Resort and Smugglers’ Notch Resort are perched on different sides of the same mountain range. Both were created as ski resorts, and for years, new construction was focused on creating amenities like restaurants, spas and lodging with easy access to ski lifts.
In Lamoille County, where the resorts are located, the average price of vacation homes with less than six acres has dropped 12 percent to $304,830 through November 2007, compared to the year before, according to Economic and Policy Resources, a Vermont think tank that tracks real estate.
Yet both resorts have been drawing surprising numbers of visitors after the ski season ends. They are aided by the discount airline JetBlue, which operates frequent daily flights to Burlington.
To capitalize on this interest, both resorts have deployed differing strategies to keep real estate prices buoyant and tourist interest high even after the snow melts. Presently, Stowe is nearing the end of $400 million in upgrades, featuring a development called Spruce Peak at Stowe. The project features new lifts, mountain cabins, a 139-unit hotel, a lodge, a health spa, a performance center and an 18-hole golf course.
The development also includes a number of vacation homes. Stowe Mountain Lodge, a new hotel/condo hybrid expected to open in May 2008, is selling 108 units, at prices from $395,000 to $1.51 million. Fractional ownerships are available for several dozen units. The development also boasts 38 mountain cabins, selling for between $2.39 million to $3 million, and 17 home-sites, which have sold for as much as $3.95 million.
“Spruce Peak is a unique property because nothing has even been offered slope-side at the resort before,” said Stowe Mountain spokesperson Jeff Wise.
The investment by the resort has helped Stowe, a town of roughly 4,800, dodge the sluggish second-home market seen elsewhere in the state, said Jeff Carr, president of Economic and Policy Resources Inc., a Vermont think tank.
Stowe’s second-home market is mostly healthy, said Peggy Smith of Coldwell Banker Carlson Real Estate in Stowe. Only homes in the $500,000 to $1 million range have seen declines in prices, and only of about 5 percent, she said. The median price of Stowe’s second homes is $440,000, and the average price is $634,000, according to Smith. Most buyers are from Boston, Greenwich, Conn., New York City, New Jersey and Florida.
“We are very fortunate here in Stowe, because people who invested here have invested because they want to live here. They really aren’t buying for speculation,” Smith said.
The vacation home market in Smugglers’ Notch, a few miles north of Stowe, has an altogether different feel. Smugglers’ has no aspirations to challenge Stowe on luxury, said spokesperson Karen Boushie. Instead, developments in the resort have focused on bolstering its image as an inviting environment for vacation homeowners with families. For the past nine years, the 78-trail resort has been ranked “No. 1 for family programs in North America” by the SKI Magazine Reader Survey.
“We share a mountain, but there are really two separate identities,” said Boushie. “The focus on families has really stayed true throughout the history of the resort.”
Thus Smugglers’ does not have its own premiere golf course, though it does have a mini-golf course and extensive daycare facilities that give parents some time to themselves. In the summer, Smugglers’ operates day camps that are attended by about 700 children each week.
Unlike Stowe Mountain, Smugglers’ Notch does not have a quaint Vermont town to compliment its offerings. Instead, four nearby clusters of condos are within walking distance of the ski lift. In total, Smugglers’ Notch has about 650 units. Full-capacity, these facilities can accommodate about 2,800 guests.
Since the 1970s, only 12 new units have been added to the housing stock each year. By limiting growth, however, the resort has avoided the price slowdown that has hit the rest of the county. While prices for one-week timeshares, which range from $14,000 for a week in June to $58,000 for Christmas week, have only risen with inflation, the cost of one-third ownership of a unit has gone up about 30 percent since 2005, according to Bob Mulcahy, president of Smugglers’ Notch.
“Our approach towards development is, I think, unique among ski resorts,” said Mulcahy. “It’s slow and steady.”