Big vision for West Mtn
The future of West Mountain relies on a bold plan to build a resort around the small Queensbury ski mountain.
The owners of West Mountain are plotting a new future for the small ski area at the foothills of the Adirondacks, best known for its kids’ programs and night skiing.
Spencer and Sara Montgomery, along with their co-owners, want to transform about 60 acres of undeveloped land to the west of the Queensbury ski mountain into a year-round resort. They’ve recruited Peter Luizzi Jr., president and CEO of Luizzi Cos., to be a key part of that plan as a financial partner and developer for The Woods at West Mountain.
The estimated $170 million project would include 252 apartments, 64 condos, 56 townhomes, 65 single-family custom homes and an 80-room hotel.
The owners see The Woods at West Mountain development as crucial to the ski area’s future — it’s getting tougher to run an independent ski resort amid warmer winters and consolidation in the industry.
“It’s absolutely critical to West Mountain’s survival,” Spencer Montgomery said. “I wouldn’t describe it any other way because if you’re slugging it out selling lift tickets at West Mountain, you could survive, but you’re always one bad season away from a really difficult time.”
The project would develop old farmland and an unused part of the ski mountain into residences with a goal of increasing skier visits by drawing downstate skiers who usually head to Vermont for the East Coast ski experience, especially those with families. It would bring more housing to Warren County, which is facing a shortage, and create a new tourism destination, just off Northway Exit 18.
If successful, the development would put West Mountain, now more than 60 years old, in a unique position.
While New York has the most ski areas of any state in the country, with 52 mountains, few of those mountains have a ski-in/ski-out resort. The hotel, conference center and village would make it a summer destination, too, with e-bike rides, equestrian tours, weddings, conferences and events.
Behind the vision
When the Montgomerys and their financial partners bought West Mountain in 2013, they always envisioned turning the mountain into a resort property. But the ski area needed serious investment first.
“I didn’t think it would take 10 years,” Spencer Montgomery said. “I also thought it would take about $5 million to get West Mountain on its feet.”
Over the last decade, the owners have invested $20 million to upgrade the ski area’s infrastructure, including new lifts, trails, snowmaking, night lighting, grooming equipment and lodge.
With the basic investments completed, it’s time for the next part of the plan: The Woods at West Mountain.
“You wouldn’t get involved at West Mountain to run a ski resort … except for the fact that we have almost 1,500 acres of beautiful property that’s not in the [Adirondack] park,” Montgomery said. (Land within the park is limited for development.)
“The profit here lies in the land development,” he added. “And that simultaneously adds profit to the ski area.”
Donna Abbott-Vlahos | Albany Business Review
Remaking West Mountain
Current plans for The Woods at West Mountain include an alpine village with coffee shops, grocery stores and retailers, a new lodge, and a new high-speed ski lift. The village would be surrounded by the apartments and condos with hot tubs and other après ski activities.
The northwest mountain lodge would be renovated, and they would build out a new amphitheater for concerts and other events.
At the crest of a hill heading up the mountain they’d build a hotel and conference center with a spa and athletic club along with the townhomes. Winding further up the mountain, single-family homes would be built with sweeping views of the Vermont mountains to the east. Hotel guests and homeowners could ski in and out from their front doors.
“It’ll be enormously popular with locals downsizing, but also, [people from] New Jersey, Connecticut, New York City, the East Coast population in general,” Montgomery said. “If the resort’s done at a posh, high level, I think it’ll be really appealing to people. The mountain’s big enough, there’s enough terrain. You’re right between Lake George and Saratoga Springs, it’ll be a true four seasons destination.”
Under previous owners, there had been plans to build homes at the flat top portion of the mountain, but those visions were never fulfilled. Montgomery said they knew they needed strong financial and development partners to pull this plan off.
To help sell people on the vision for the resort, Montgomery has built a wood cabin, from felled trees on the property, as his office and a sort-of sales trailer.
They worked with Studio A Landscape Architecture and Engineering on the design and were introduced to Luizzi. Montgomery said Luizzi was sold on the concept from their first meeting almost two years ago.
Luizzi Cos. is best known for constructing the $65 million Starbuck Island development in Green Island across the Hudson River fromdowntown Troy, and the company is pursuing plans to build the significantly larger One-Four-Six Marketplace in Halfmoon.
“We had the concept, we had the land, we had the ski area. I have two really good, financially sound partners,” Montgomery said. “Peter [Luizzi Jr.] was the missing link.”
Snowfall totals in the Albany region
The National Weather Service in Albany says the region averaged just over 59 inches of snow each winter between 1991 and 2020. Over the past six years, though, the region’s winters have not hit that mark.
The state of New York skiing
This past warm, wet winter is an example of why mountains like West Mountain need to reinvent their current business models.
It was a tough ski season — about four inches of rain dropped the weekend before Christmas, when they make 20% of their annual revenues. Temperatures stayed high much of the winter making it harder to make good snow, and there was little natural snowfall.
Montgomery said a good year gets north of 100,000 skier visits to West. This year will likely hit 80,000.
“It’s just a tough game selling lift tickets, there’s no other way to say it,” Montgomery said. “Competition is enormous. You’ve got Epic Pass. You’ve got all the massive conglomerates now. We have pressure right up the road 45 minutes away [with Gore Mountain].”
Scott Brandi, president of the industry association Ski Areas of New York Inc., said these challenges are playing out across New York’s 52 ski mountains, most of which are independent and family owned.
“The trend has been the big keep on getting bigger and the small keep getting smaller,” Brandi said.
The resorts are part of what adds to upstate New York’s quality of life, he said, and projects like the one that West is proposing can help to sustain that quality for the next generation.
“West has location, location, location. It’s a wonderful position being right off the Northway and convenient,” Brandi said.
One of the views at West Mountain.
Donna Abbott-Vlahos | Albany Business Review
What’s next for the project
Plans for the Woods at West Mountain are moving forward after the project was first announced two years ago during an open house that drew 200 community members.
After conducting traffic studies, testing the soil, and doing other due diligence, the developers introduced the plans to the town board earlier this year.
The project, from Apex Capital LLC and Mountain Top Ventures LLC, is before the Queensbury Planning Board in May. The first step is to rezone the property from a recreational commercial zone to a planned resort development.
“Best-case scenario would be next fall to put shovels in the ground,” Montgomery said. “If the approvals go through, that would be a really good situation.”
In all, the development is expected to take seven to 10 years to complete. Costs are estimated somewhere between $170 million and $190 million to build.
Early predictions of the demand, Montgomery said, show the development could sell out before it’s all built.
“I’d like to model some of what the conglomerates do. Keep your prices low and your ski visits up,” Montgomery said of the potential. “It’s paramount to West Mountain being able to go forward. It’s absolutely critical.”
Skiing West Mountain
Vertical Drop: 1,010 feet
Skiable acres: 130
Longest Run: 1.4 miles
Trails: 35
The Woods at West Mountain
Owners: Apex Capital LLC and Mountain Top Ventures LLC
Developer: Luizzi Cos.
Architect: Studio A Landscape Architecture and Engineering
Estimated Cost: $170 million to $190 million
Project details: Resort with a mixed-use and residential alpine village including: 252 apartments, 64 condos, 56 townhome units, 65 single-family homes and an 80-room hotel with conference center