Wikipedia

Boyne Resorts

Boyne Resorts is an owner and operator of ski and golf resorts in North America. The company employs over 10,000 full-time and seasonal staff. It operates 12 resort properties: 10 ski resorts, a lakeside golf resort, an adventure park in the Smokies, and 12 golf courses among them. The company, based in Boyne Falls, Michigan, owns and operates properties in the U.S. states of Michigan, Montana, Washington, Maine, New Hampshire, Tennessee, and Utah, and the Canadian province of British Columbia.[citation needed]

Boyne Resorts
Company typePrivate
Founded1947 (as Boyne Ski Lodge)
HeadquartersBoyne Falls, Michigan
Key people
Stephen Kircher, President and CEO
Number of employees
10,500+ full time and seasonal (2023)
Websitewww.boyneresorts.com

History

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Boyne Resorts was founded by Everett Kircher, Jim Christianson and John Norton in 1947.[1] They purchased a steep hill in Northern Michigan for $1 from former State Senator Pierson.[2] Then the co-founders bought a single chairlift from Sun Valley in Idaho and installed it at their Northern Michigan resort as its first lift. This chairlift was the first ever built and is still in service today, it has been upgraded several times.[3] In 1954, Boyne built and opened Gatlinburg SkyLift in Tennessee, a scenic chairlift that operated as a year-round tourist attraction.[4] In 1963, Boyne Highlands in Northern Michigan was added and by 1967, Boyne Mountain expanded to include additional lifts and a golf course. Robert Trent Jones designed the first resort course in the region at Boyne Highlands in 1966.[citation needed]

After Boyne passed opportunities to acquire Telluride Ski Resort in Colorado and Jackson Hole Mountain Resort in Wyoming,[citation needed] they closed a deal to purchase Chet Huntley's Big Sky Resort in 1976, only a few years after its opening in December 1973, and now is the second-largest ski resort in the United States by acreage.[5] In 1986, Boyne purchased Brighton outside of Salt Lake City, Utah. In the 1990s, Boyne purchased golf courses in Michigan and Florida. 1997 brought along the company's fifth ski resort, Crystal Mountain, Washington.[citation needed]

In 2001, Boyne added its first Canadian resort, Cypress Mountain outside Vancouver, British Columbia. Cypress Mountain was the host to all the Freestyle and Snowboard events for the 2010 Winter Olympic Games. In 2002, the company's founder and visionary, Everett Kircher died; his children maintained Boyne as a privately held company (Kircher had transferred ownership of the company to his children in 1976). Son, John Kircher oversaw the Brighton, Cypress Mountain, and Crystal Mountain operations. Son, Stephen Kircher was overseeing the Midwest operations as well as operations at Big Sky Resort. Daughter, Amy Kircher Wright served as the Chairperson of the board.[6] In 2007, Boyne Resorts entered into a sale and leaseback arrangement with CNL Income Properties on the Gatlinburg SkiLift, Brighton and Cypress Mountain. The leases run for at least 40 years to Boyne for operations and all have buy back provisions. Later in 2007, Boyne purchased Sunday River and Sugarloaf in Maine from The American Skiing Company and entered into a sale and leaseback arrangement with CNL Income Properties with similar 40-year leases.

On September 19, 2007, Boyne announced their purchase of CNL Income Properties leases for The Summit at Snoqualmie, Washington, and Loon Mountain, New Hampshire, from Booth Creek Resorts.[7] This purchase made Boyne the largest family owned ski resort operator in North America in terms of number of resorts, and second in number of skier visits at almost 3.6 million visitors.[8][citation needed]

Boyne Resorts also holds or held numerous patents on snowmaking technologies and has unveiled its latest technology in the Boyne Low E Fan Gun throughout its eastern resorts.

In 2016, CNL Income Properties sold all six of the ski resorts they leased to Boyne to Och-Ziff Capital Management. On March 31, 2017, John Kircher, son of co-founder, acquired Crystal Mountain by trading it with his shares in the company.[9] In March 2018, Boyne Resorts purchased Sunday River, Sugarloaf, The Summit at Snoqualmie, Loon Mountain, Brighton, Cypress Mountain Ski Area, and Gatlinburg SkyLift from Och-Ziff Capital Management after years of leasing the properties.[10][11]

Properties

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Ski Resorts

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  • Boyne currently owns and operates ten ski resorts in six U.S. states and one Canadian province.
Name Location Number of lifts Date opened Date acquired Notes
Boyne Mountain Boyne Falls, Michigan 10 1947 1948
The Highlands Harbor Springs, Michigan 8 December 26, 1963 1963
Big Sky Resort Madison County, Montana 36 December 1973 March 4, 1974
Brighton Brighton, Utah 6 1936 1986
Cypress Mountain Cypress Provincial Park, British Columbia 9 1970 2001
The Summit at Snoqualmie Snoqualmie Pass, Washington 19 1967 October 5, 2007 Acquired from Booth Creek Ski Holdings in 2007.[12]
Loon Mountain Lincoln, New Hampshire 13 December 1966
Pleasant Mountain Bridgton, Maine 5 January 23, 1938 October 21, 2021
Sugarloaf Carrabassett Valley, Maine 12 1953 August 8, 2007 Acquired from ASC in 2007.
Sunday River Newry, Maine 19 December 19, 1959

Other Properties

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Name Location Notes
Inn at Bay Harbor Petoskey, Michigan Autograph Collection by Marriott property
Avalanche Bay Indoor Waterpark Michigan
Gatlinburg SkyPark Tennessee Damaged by fire in 2016, opened Gatlinburg SkyBridge in 2019

Retail stores

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Boyne Resorts owns Boyne Country Sports, a sporting goods store chain with seven locations across Michigan.[13]

References

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  1. ^ "Ski Empire: Boyne Mountain celebrates its 60th anniversary". northernexpress.com. March 22, 2009. Retrieved July 3, 2020.
  2. ^ Skiing Heritage Journal, Vol. 15, No. 2, June 2003, Published by International Skiing History Association, ISSN 1082-2895
  3. ^ Pederson, Jay, ed. (2005). "Boyne USA Resorts". International Directory of Company Histories, Vol. 71. St. James Press. Retrieved January 17, 2008.
  4. ^ "The birth and growth of Boyne USA, Northern Michigan's outdoor sporting empire". Crain's Detroit Business. July 7, 2019.
  5. ^ "A Ski Resort Grows Under an Expansive Montana Sky". The New York Times. January 10, 2017. Retrieved July 3, 2020.
  6. ^ Saxon, Wolfgang (January 24, 2002). "Everett Kircher, Ski Resort Owner, Dies at 85". The New York Times. Retrieved January 17, 2008.
  7. ^ "Boyne Resorts Names Leadership Of Newly Defined Regions". snowindustrynews.com. September 6, 2018. Retrieved July 3, 2020.
  8. ^ "Boyne USA Resorts Announces Coast-To-Coast Expansion Acquisitions Expected to Increase Company Skier Days to 3.6 Million". boyneresorts.com. September 19, 2007. Archived from the original on May 13, 2011.
  9. ^ "John Kircher has big plans after buying out Crystal Mountain Ski Resort's owners". Puget Sound Business journal. April 21, 2017.
  10. ^ "Boyne Resorts to Buy Seven Properties from Oz Real Estate". saminfo.com. March 13, 2018. Retrieved July 3, 2020.
  11. ^ "After running Brighton ski area for years, Boyne will own it again". The Salt Lake Tribune. March 14, 2018. Archived from the original on March 15, 2018.
  12. ^ "Booth Creek Ski Holdings, Inc. - NewEnglandSkiHistory.com". www.newenglandskihistory.com. Retrieved April 18, 2024.
  13. ^ "Stores". Boyne Country Sports. Retrieved November 20, 2021.
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