Battle Mountain, Bobby Ginn’s Billion Dollar Ski Resort Project near Vail is One Step Closer

Tiny town of Minturn, Colorado voted to annex land and got a lot from Ginn in return

February 29, 2008 – Palm Coast, FL – This week, the Town Council of tiny Minturn, Colorado voted unanimously to annex 4300 acres of land on Battle Mountain owned by Ginn Resorts. Ginn plans to develop a billion dollar ski resort on the site. The annexation agreement includes a pledge by the developer of $180 million for improvements to the town’s services and infrastructure. The 1,100 resident town’s current budget is about $1.5 million.

The vote was preceded by two and a half years of planning and council meetings. Minturn, a sleepy former mining and railroad town long bypassed by Vail developers, bargained well. Ginn has pledged to:

• Build affordable housing for 50 percent of the resort’s future employees
• Establish a scholarship fund for local kids
• Provide money for Minturn to buy U.S Forest Service land within the town’s boundaries
• Clean up a toxic superfund site at a former mine nearby
• Build a recreation center and bike path
• Provide money for streets, sidewalks, lighting and water system upgrades

If additional approvals from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Environmental Protection Agency are obtained, the billion dollar project will proceed. Plans call for 1,200 acres of skiing, eight chair lifts, a gondola to link the base village to home sites and a golf course. The plan also involves construction of 1,700 luxury homes and condos worth an estimated $3.4 to $4 billion. Ginn reportedly purchased the land for $32.75 million.

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