AIG sneezes, ski town catches cold
STOWE, Vt. --Winter sports enthusiasts are keeping close tabs on the travails of
With speculation mounting that AIG may sell off some assets to pay back a government bailout of up to $85 billion announced Tuesday, people in Stowe are wondering if some of those assets might include parts or all of one of the East's premier ski areas.
"There's no question AIG's assets are up in the air," said economist Thomas Kavet, a consultant to the Vermont Legislature. "They're desperate for cash, and the way to get cash it to sell anything that's worth something."
Stowe Mountain Resort has been investing heavily in recent years. It's about halfway through a $400 million project to add ski lift improvements, upscale hotels and mountainside condominiums.
Dan Oberlander, managing director of the Topnotch Resort and Spa, one of many businesses in Stowe that benefit from proximity to the mountain, said the resort development will retain its value even if it is sold.
"The mountain isn't going to go away," Oberlander said, "and the $200 million or so they've already invested isn't going to go away."
Bruce Hyde, commissioner of the state Department of Tourism, said he's hopeful that Stowe will continue as a linchpin of Vermont's tourism economy, no matter what happens with AIG.
"Regardless of who the owner is, there's always going to be a Mount Mansfield ski area and that development is going to continue to be productive," Hyde said. "I'd be far more concerned if this happened three or four years ago, when they were first starting on their major project. At this point ... they're actually on to phase two."
Dick Marron, chairman of the Stowe Selectboard, said he was less worried about the future of the Stowe Mountain Resort than about some individual residents in town.
"I have a lot of people I know in Stowe who have significant shares of stock in AIG and lost their shirts in the last couple of months," he said. 