Eaglecrest Ski Area’s board president said Thursday the limits are being pushed on the May 2028 deadline to open a gondola that is seen as the key to reversing the resort’s longtime and growing financial losses, which could result in Goldbelt Inc. abandoning an operating agreement and reclaiming the $10 million it provided for installation.
The assessment came a day after Eaglecrest leaders told the Juneau Assembly the resort expects its operating losses to be larger and last longer than estimates provided earlier this year, with a negative bank balance until at least 2032 even if the gondola opens. Assembly members have expressed a willingness to continue providing funds to Eaglecrest due to the constant assurances the gondola will make the resort profitable, but whether things will proceed as hoped is an open question.
“I think it’s key that we have that road construction start this year,” Mike Satre, Eaglecrest’s board president, said during a board of directors meeting Thursday evening. “We have to — we can’t afford to lose construction seasons. And then it’s going to be figuring out how do we accelerate the next phase — how busy are we next summer? I think we had initially a few years ago thought that by (fiscal year 2027) we’d be seeing full summer operations. And you know that we’re pushing FY28 — and really the limits of that Goldbelt contract — is really where we’re at.”
Goldbelt President McHugh Pierre stated in an email to the Empire on Friday it’s unknown at this point what the urban Native corporation will do if the deadline at the ski area owned by the City and Borough of Juneau is missed.
”Goldbelt has a contract with the CBJ and we are following the terms of the contract,” he wrote. “Goldbelt has not been approached by the CBJ to alter the existing contract, so I cannot comment or speculate on what might be possible in the future.”
The company does have a heightened interest in tourism activities on the northern portion of Douglas Island, where Eaglecrest is located, due to plans announced last fall to build a private two-ship cruise port on land it owns along the northwest coastline. Goldbelt has stated it hopes to open the port, along with gift shops and other tourist facilities, by 2027 as part of a joint agreement with the Royal Caribbean Group.
Satre did not respond Friday to questions from the Empire about what actions Eaglecrest might be considering if the deadline is missed.
The agreement was already changed in 2023 to move the opening deadline from 2027 to 2028. Under the agreement Goldbelt gets between 10% and 25% of the gondola’s gross revenue for at least 25 years, with the company able to extend the agreement if it has not received at least $20 million during that period.
Eaglecrest, which is approaching its 50th anniversary, has always required financial support from the city for operations, Satre wrote in a May 11 memo to the Assembly. Amounts since 2000 have ranged from $358,000 that year to a record $1.44 million this year, which helped allow the ski area to maintain a positive fund balance during that time.
However, “in prior meetings with the Assembly, it has been generally understood that Eaglecrest will enter into a negative fund balance as we transition to full year operations, but the question remains of just how much and how long,” he wrote.
That outlook took a downturn at Wednesday’s meeting of the Assembly’s Finance Committee, with Satre stating Eaglecrest is likely to reach a negative fund balance of $5.5 million before things turn around — assuming the gondola opens in the summer of 2027 — but it will still take several more years before the fund has a positive balance.
Among the financial challenges the ski area faces are its aging infrastructure needs costly repairs, a 40% increase in employee pay in next year’s proposed budget to help resolve acute worker shortages and the resort just ending an abbreviated season impaired by some of its worst-ever snow conditions.
Satre also emphasized, as other Eaglecrest leaders repeatedly have, “the future is still bright” since the resort expects to eventually make a substantial profit from year-round operations that include more than 100,000 summer tourists a year riding the gondola.
The possibility of not proceeding with the gondola and agreement with Goldbelt was raised — with some alarm — during a board retreat last October. At the time resort officials said $3 million of Goldbelt’s money had already been spent that would have to be repaid with interest if the agreement is scrapped.
Mayor Beth Weldon told Eaglecrest board members and administrators at the retreat that the Assembly, which provided $2 million toward the purchase of the gondola, isn’t likely to provide further support to make that project happen if the Goldbelt agreement falls through.
“It’s your future — you’re in for a penny, you’re in for a pound,” she said. Otherwise “if you don’t do this you have no revenue stream…Even though you have an Eaglecrest-friendly Assembly, these last two years from the flood are taking all of our money and it will take much more. We will not be a resource.”
Backing out of an agreement with Goldbelt would also likely make it difficult to find a private partner for the project if Eaglecrest officials then eventually want to proceed with the gondola, Weldon said.
While Eaglecrest leaders have generally expressed strong optimism about operational prospects with the gondola, some hesitation was raised at the October meeting since the model acquired from Galsterberg Ski Area in Austria has already suffered setbacks, including needing more parts at a higher cost than expected for installation.
“There is no doubt in the world that we can put it up,” Kirk Duncan, a former Eaglecrest general manager hired by CBJ as a temporary consultant last year, during that meeting. “The question is should we? I don’t want to open up a can of worms here, but this thing (is) 20 years old and are we just getting another problem?”
Such concerns haven’t been voiced recently by Eaglecrest leaders, who say ultimately it’s in the community’s best interests to ensure the gondola and year-round operations are realized.
“Our goal is to be in summer operations, and send the city money back and have a positive fund balance,” Satre told Assembly members on Wednesday.
• Contact Mark Sabbatini at mark.sabbatini@juneauempire.com or (907) 957-2306.
