Okemo Legal Brief Reveals Real Estate Intentions - Archived

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On May 9th, 2014, Okemo’s attorney submitted a 39-page final brief to the Merrimack Superior Court. The document summarizes what his client believes occurred at the trial held April 21-25th, 2014.

FOMS obtained today a copy of the brief and scanned the selection of pages (18-19 and 29-39) that specifically refer to Okemo’s real estate potential for the West Bowl.

Okemo Final Summary Brief to Merrimack Superior Court- May 9th 2014 (672.7 KiB)

The brief summarizes Okemo’s position that the State of NH owes them over $13 million in lost revenue and value, due to the rejection of their expansion plans by Governor Lynch in 2005.

Of particular interest are these quotes:

Mount Sunapee Resort is worth $9.4 million less because of the inability to expand. (page 18)

The resort value with the right to expand to the West Bowl is $28,400,000. (page 29)

All told, [Okemo] spent $1.2 million on the adjoining property. Had it been developed as planned and approved by [DRED] Commissioner Sean O’Kane [in 2005], it would be worth $4.65 million instead of the $1.6 million it was worth in 2008… (page 29-30)

[Okemo’s expert witness] Mr. Hawks opined that the damages suffered as a result of the State’s misconduct totaled $12.45 million when calculated by considering the value of the Resort and private land “as is” and “as if complete” (page 29)

On page 30, Attorney Higgins describes how ski area appraisal expert Brandon Hawks arrived at his value conclusions, which included a presumption of 155 units of residential housing on Okemo’s private land. To wit:

[The State] objected and moved to strike Mr. Hawk’s reasons for concluding 155 residential units could be constructed on the private land. (page 30)

In calculating their claim for lost revenue and value, Okemo’s expert witness assumed that they would build residential real estate if they could.

Three months later, Okemo’s General Manager told the Intertown Record that their 2004 proposed Master Development Plan ‘specified there were no plans to build any condos.’

See a map of their 2004 MDP specifying 175-250 residential condos at the base of their West Bowl Expansion.

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