A new resort village at Blue Mountain is central to Intrawest’s plans to transform the Ontario ski resort into a four-season destination area. The strategy, unveiled earlier this month, includes the development of approximately 1,200 condominium hotel units and 100,000 square feet of retail space in the pedestrian village which will accommodate a total of 60 to 70 shops and restaurants. The new Blue Mountain village will be designed with "historic authenticity" which, according to Intrawest, acts as a "magnet to the destination crowd." As part of the planning strategy for the new development Intrawest gathered representatives from the Town of Blue Mountain, the Town of Collingwood, resort staff and consultants to create an "idea blueprint" for Blue Mountain 2010. This will be the first full ski season for the Blue Mountain-Intrawest alliance. Intrawest acquired a 50 per cent share in Blue Mountain in January. To date Intrawest investment has produced a new high-speed detachable six-person lift, a triple chairlift, increased snowmaking, new grooming machines and new meeting rooms in the conference centre. Greywolf Golf Course at Panorama, B.C. has been named best new Canadian golf course for 1999 in the December issue of Golf Digest. According to the magazine’s architecture editor, Ron Whitten, Greywolf, which is jointly owned by Intrawest and BMR Golf, prevailed against the strongest field of contenders in the nine-year history of the Canadian category. This now gives Greywolf architect Doug Carrick a total of two best new awards. The other he earned for his work at Ontario’s Angus Glen Golf Club in 1995. Runner-up status goes to Silver Tip Golf Course in Canmore with the Links at GlenEagles, Cochrane, Alberta rounding out the Western Canadian sweep in the best new Canadian category. Intrawest has announced it will redeem 4,020,000 of its non-resort preferred (NRP) shares Jan. 1 at $2.65 per share. The number of NRP shares to be redeemed represents approximately 30 per cent of the outstanding NRP shares. At a shareholders’ meeting held Nov. 15, the articles of the company were altered to vary the rights and restrictions attached to the shares. Quarterly redemptions on Jan. 1, April 1, July 1 and Oct. 1 are now permitted and the redemption amount per share has been adjusted to $2.65 per share from $3.82. Shareholders will be sent notice of redemption and instruction on the method by which their shares will be redeemed. Intrawest will redeem NRP shares held by holders of record at the close of business on Jan. 1, 2000. The financial results of Intrawest’s non-resort business are reflected in the company’s 1999 financial report as discontinued operations. These operations incurred a loss of $6.9 million in 1999 compared with a loss of $2 million in 1998. Whitemud Crossing Shopping Centre in Edmonton, which was under contract for sale, was written down by $2.5 million to its contracted sales price, and the company’s 50 per cent interest in the Gateway commercial land site in Surrey was written down by $3 million in light of a slowdown in the office leasing market and corresponding vacancy rates in that area. During 1999 Intrawest sold $10.8 million of non-resort properties, consisting of 66 units in the Coach Hill project in Calgary. The net income or loss and the net cash flow generated by these non-resort assets accrue to the holders of NRP shares.
