SEVEN SPRINGS TO BE SOLD!!!
June 23, 2006
http://post-gazette.com/pg/06170/699471-100.stmSeven Springs resort to be sold
Monday, June 19, 2006
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
After 74 years of ownership, the Dupre family has agreed to sell Seven Springs Mountain Resort, according to a press release issued by the family today.
The release did not name the buyer but said a press conference would be held this afternoon.
The resort in Champion, on the Somerset-Westmoreland county border, employs 1,500 full-time and part-time workers.
Family members have previously discussed selling the resort and have even been involved in court disputes over the future of the facility.
The resort stands to get slot machines under the state's new gaming law.
Not sure if that is good news or not, but will be optimistic wrt 7S future. On a side note, LM patrol was instructed that we would NOT be allowed to sign onto any other patrol for this upcoming year. Not sure what that means, but feel free to read into it whatever you want!
Springsregular, even if we cannot sign on with the 7S patrol, I would feel honored if you guys would let us visit and help out on occasion! Let me know if you receive any more info!
I had heard about the sale on Thursday... for fear of being accused of rumor mongering, I did not post the news of the sale on this site. According to the Somerset Daily American, the news conference will be at 2:00 PM with the new owners on hand to discuss the future.
I hear it may be Ogden Nutting, principal owner of the Pirates.
If it is him, I hope he doesn't do to 7S what he and McClatchy have done to the Bucs!!!
Quote:
I hear it may be Ogden Nutting, principal owner of the Pirates.
It is, according to the employee meeting this afternoon. I was not at it, but talked to some fellow ski school employees that were in attendance Some on here thought I and others were nuts. We all knew a sale was coming by the way things were happening the last season. What does it mean? I guess we'll find out over the next few months as the transistion happens.
http://post-gazette.com/pg/06170/699471-100.stm
Seven Springs resort to be sold to publisher
Monday, June 19, 2006
By Bill Toland, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
CHAMPION, Pa. -- After 74 years of ownership, the Dupre family has agreed to sell Seven Springs Mountain Resort to a family of newspaper publishers.
A press conference was being held today to announce that members of the Nutting family are buying the resort in Champion, on the Somerset-Westmoreland county border. The resort employs 1,500 full-time and part-time workers.
Dupre family members have previously discussed selling the resort and have even been involved in court disputes over the future of the facility.
Members of the Nutting family also are investors in the Pirates along with Kevin McClatchy. They own a chain of newspapers headquartered in Wheeling, W.Va.
The resort stands to get slot machines under the state's new gaming law.
Family Agrees To Purchase Seven Springs Mountain Resort
POSTED: 12:18 pm EDT June 19, 2006
UPDATED: 2:53 pm EDT June 19, 2006
CHAMPION, Pa. -- Seven Springs Mountain Resort, a year-round getaway in the mountains of western Pennsylvania, will be sold after being owned by the same family for 74 years, officials announced Monday.
The Dupre family has agreed to sell Seven Spring Mountain Resort to the Nutting family.
The Nutting family already has a significant presence in the region. The family publishes 21 daily newspapers and 20 phone books delivering to more than one million households within a four-hour drive of the resort.
"My family is absolutely committed to this region for the long term, as is shown by our commitment to Ogden Newspapers, our involvement with the Pittsburgh Pirates, and now the purchase of Seven Springs Mountain Resort," Robert Nutting said.
Nutting expressed confidence in the current management team and their vision for the future growth of the resort. The Nutting family's ownership strategy will be to build on that vision by investing in improved resort amenities. Nutting also pledged to continue with the resort's current support for a limited resort gaming license.
"The possibility of limited gaming did not play a major role in our decision to purchase the resort," Nutting said. "However, we owe it to our management team and staff, the strong supporters in the community and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to continue to pursue it. We also owe it to the 355 people that it will employ and to the community that will benefit from the more than $50 million in added tax revenue."
Seven Springs Mountain Resort is one of two resorts that have applied for the state's two available slot machine licenses for resorts.
In March, Seven Springs unveiled plans for a $5.4 million slots parlor that would have 500 slot machines, create 350 jobs and would allow the resort build an indoor water park sooner than planned.
The proposed 26,900-square-foot facility would be built on the resort's existing conference center. Seven Springs is also planning to upgrade to its 400-room hotel.
The resort currently offers a variety of activities, from skiing to golf to paintball.
Refresh this page for updates as they become available
Ogden & Robert Nutting are also ski enthusiasts. At the beginning of last season, there was an editorial in Ski or Skiing magazine discussing the 'wealthy publisher from W.VA who, with his son, has managed to ski over 500(?)resorts aroundn the world'. ((I had given a reference to this article somewhere way back in the HV For Sale thread but too lazy to look up again))
If you go to seven springs website, they have posted the official press release. Not a whole lot of additional info but a bit more background than in the newspaper articles
According to my Priority 7 Newsletter I got today, it sounds like the new owner is a real outdoorsman and environmentalist. Would be nice if he is able to purchase BK and help turn that place around.
That's a very interesting read - I wonder if it means that the Dupre family will continue to actually own the land on which the resort sits? If that is the case, how would that differ from a lease?
No, the Dupre family would not own the land -- the 'stockholders' (Nutting) would. There can be significant tax advantages of a stock sale vs. an assett sale. First, as the article points out, there is no deed transfer -- localities lose out on the deed transfer tax. In addition, generally, a stock sale will result in a much higher portion of the profit (to the seller) being taxed at the capital gains rate of 15% vs. the regular earnings rate at 35% (top bracket)-- big advantage to Dupres. Biggest risk is to Nutting who will assume all/any past liabilities of 7Springs, known & unknown. E.G. -- if someone comes out of the woodwork and sues for food poisioning that occurred last year, Nutting is holding the bag, even if it was due to former owner(Dupre) negligence. To compensate, a stock sale will often be at a lower price than an asset sale (but, again, seller has a tax advantage) or, a portion of sale price will be put in escrow for such situations. It can be complicated.
