Canadian Group: 'Powder Ridge Should Be Year-Round Resort'

There is renewed hope in Middlefield's effort to revitalize Powder Ridge.

On Friday, Nov. 4, town and state officials met with two developers who said they are interested in moving forward with a failed deal to bring skiers and jobs back to the dilapidated ski area.

While neither Rick Sabatino nor David Perry would talk specifics about any renewed negotiations, the pair's interest in the property was clear just on their travel itinerary alone.

Sabatino and Perry drove by car from Candada to Middlefield to tour the property. (They also planned to visit two nearby ski areas -- Mt. Southington and Ski Sundown in New Hartford -- to get a better idea of the competition they might face should they buy Powder Ridge.)

"It's just so New England," said Perry, who told Patch he represented a group of unnamed investors. "It's very sad, but a lot can be done with it."

Sabatino, who previously served as a consultant to Alpine Ridge LLC, which backed out of a $1 million deal to buy the property last month, would not speculate on Alpine's decision to stop the deal and said he hoped to move forward.

"If you could get over 100,000 skier visits here you'd be doing well," Sabatino told the group of officials, which included Middlefield First Selectman Jon Brayshaw, State Sen. Len Suzio and State Rep. Matt Lesser.

"This is one of the nicest spots in Middlefield," Brayshaw told the developers as he described the popularity of the ski area's outdoor pool which once overflowed with families during summer. "It stopped when the skiing stopped."

Perry agreed that any plan to restore the property would need to take a year-round approach.

"The worst thing would be to open this place for five to six months, and then close it and lay everybody off," he said, indicating that a plan would likely include a waterpark or zip-lines.

Brayshaw told Perry the ski area employed about 200 people during the winter months and about 15 during the offseason.

Suzio and Lesser said the state would support the developer's efforts to reopen Powder Ridge, in part because of the number of jobs it would create.

Lesser told Perry he'd recently spoken to the commissioner of the Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD) about the potential for additional state aid, beyond a recent $500,000 grant which must be used for infrastructure improvements.

Following their tour of the property, Sabatino and Perry met with Middlefield's Board of Selectman in executive session.

The pair said they planned to visit the ski area at least twice more before making a decision on whether or not to buy the property.