Studio A Architecture via West Mountain Ski Area (2021)
The Planned Unit Development for the West Mountain Ski Area includes up to 254 units of lodging, a new chair lift, retail, spa and conference center.
West Mountain Ski area has developed a plan for a ski-and-stay resort with a new chair lift, a conference center, up to 254 units of lodging, a restaurant, health spa, ski shop, coffee shop and other retail on the northern edge of their property, along the border with the Adirondack Park. The plans were drawn by StudioA landscape architecture and engineering of Saratoga Springs.
Spencer Montgomery, the co-owner of West Mountain with his wife Sara, said in an interview today that this plan “has always been the end game” of a redevelopment of the ski area that started with improved lifts and snow making.
The resort would be aimed at people looking for a place to arrive, unpack the bags and forget about the world for a long weekend. People from Albany, New York City, New Jersey and Connecticut already do that, he said, but they head to the Okemo, Stowe and Killington ski resorts in Vermont. He wants to get people to turn left of Northway Exit 18 toward Queensbury, instead of right, toward Vermont.
The idea is that skiers after a long day on the slopes can let older children in the family ski until 9 p.m., when the lights on the mountain are turned off, he said. Skiers can ski out of their homes and right back to their doors without getting into the car.
"You're heading to Vermont for that experience,” he said. With his resort just two miles from the Northway, "I think I'll attract a lot of that audience."
[Read more about their initial plan here. Read about a recent expansion here.]
Queensbury Ward 4 board member Tim McNulty called the plan “a significant development” at the board meeting Monday evening, Sept. 27.
He said he will be looking especially at the traffic along Corinth Road, a major artery between the Northway Exit 18 and points west. This is not the first time that board members have talked about traffic along that corridor, though McNulty was not dismissive of this project.
“It’s ambitious to say the least,” he said.
The plan includes space for 52 single family homes, 34 duplexes (68 units), three condominium buildings (up to 54 units), and a hotel (up to 80 units). The homes, duplexes and condos will be purchased outright and likely will be owned as rentals.
Although he priced the entire project at $50 million or more, he did not have a target price for the individual units but guessed they would be on the higher end. The company is self-financing the initial portion of the planning stage, but would seek investor funding for the development itself.
Retailers and developers are interested and have been calling this week since Sara Montgomery posted images of the plans to Instagram.
"The Mountain would act as the rental manager for the properties," earning a cut of the rental price, Spencer Montgomery said. The mountain would care for the roads, the garbage removal and other needs of the homeowners. "It's a turnkey. When you show up, your house is ready for you."
He said he had shopped around the idea to create this development in years past, but hit resistance because the mountain still needed the work on the chair lifts and snowmaking. With those projects behind him, they can move forward.
As well, the resort is aimed and summer use. The mountain provides many outdoor activities and is situated between Lake George and Saratoga Springs, he said.
Montgomery said he was hoping to move the plan, a Planned Unit Development, through the various committees in Queensbury by year’s end.
Editor's note: The plan has been presented to the town, informally, and will go officially next month, Spencer Montgomery said after we first published.