Courtesy West Mountain Ski Area (2021)
Phase 2 of the West Mountain Ski area development would include townhouses and a small grocery in the area outlined in blue.
West Mountain is in the planning stages of a $50 million development that includes 180-220 residential townhouse units, a new ski lift and a small shopping plaza near the current Northwest base lodge. All this aims to turn the local ski area into a destination ski resort, Spencer Montgomery told FoothillsBusinessDaily.com. He owns the ski center in Queensbury with his wife, Sara.
“We’ve got some pretty grandiose plans, I know,” said Montgomery. “You have to have a big picture vision, and a little bit of crazy sprinkled in.”
The ski mountain recently completed Stage One, an eight-year development project, with a complete infrastructure and equipment overhaul.
The next stage would develop a ski-and-stay resort area, Spencer Montgomery said.
“That’s what people are looking for. We won’t truly be successful until we have a lodging component to the mountain. People don’t want to commute. They want to come up, unpack their bags and spend three or four days skiing,” he said.
Montgomery says his goal now is to get the ski-and-stay resort plans finalized and approved through the proper zoning and planning boards.
The project would be developed on a 60 acre parcel of land and parking area already owned by West Mountain. Plans for the shopping plaza include a small grocery market, and would be open to the public.
Marketing firm Lift of Saratoga is working with Montgomery to produce drone flyovers and presentation videos of the mountain. Montgomery said there is very little residential development in the area surrounding the proposed ski runs and townhouses, and he does not foresee plans being a disturbance to anyone living in the surrounding area.
Funding for the project is yet to be solidified. A real estate development trust would be an ideal candidate, Montgomery said, as entities of that nature tend to have the resources to move quickly for large projects.
Montgomery said the town of Queensbury has been wonderful to work with, and that the mountain has a great working relationship with members of the zoning and planning boards.
“The town isn’t necessarily looking for more apartments in this area, but a ski-and-stay resort would be really good for Queensbury. Queensbury should be a ski town, with a ski center right in the middle of it. It would make the area more of a destination and would help draw people into the area in the winter,” Montgomery said.
Next steps will be to solidify plans to bring before the town for approval. Apex Capital LLC, the company that owns West Mountain Ski Area, holds about 1,500 acres in the towns of Queensbury and the Town of Lake Luzerne.