Happy Holidays - Explore Big Sky

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PROFiLe Lee Poole is still looking toward the future with moonlight By eMiLy STiFLeR Photos courtesy of Moonlight Basin Lee Poole’s face lights up when he talks about this winter’s early snow. “I skied with my family last weekend, and we had such a great time.” His voice is soft but gravelly, and he moves his hands as he speaks. “For this time of year, this quality snow, you gotta be kidding. It’s really neat.” The owner of Moonlight Basin has had a tough few years. Swept up in the inflated real estate boom of the early 2000s, he and his partners began developing the 25,000-acre property in and around Jack Creek – a major drainage that runs west from Big Sky toward Ennis. Laying the groundwork for a dream resort, they built the spectacular Moonlight Lodge, a major new ski area, the infamous stone entryway, and what is now a half built clubhouse and golf course. But Moonlight was hit fast and hard by the recession. An upcoming trial with Lehman Brothers looms in April 2011, and with Lehman’s attempt to foreclose on the resort and Moonlight in Chapter 11, this litigation could potentially change the economy of the resort entirely—affecting Big Sky and Ennis, as well. Poole, though, is optimistic, and is moving forward with operations and plans for growth. With over 70 percent of employees returning, ticket sales up from last year, and a December snowpack that is over 100 percent of average, why shouldn’t he? When Poole and his partners bought the land, “the goal from day one was to protect the property for 10 December 24, 2010 wildlife habitat as much as possible. Number two was to create as many jobs as we could out of Ennis and the Big Sky area, which we’ve done,” he says. “We also wanted create a one-of-a kind experience for our owners, guests and clients coming to Moonlight.” He says the company is on track: “We’ve got better than half of the property in conservation easements through conservation buyers. We have a golf course that will be, by several experts’ opinions, probably the finest mountain course in North America. Coupled with Big Sky, we have the Biggest Skiing in America campaign. Moonlight has the best in-bounds extreme skiing in the United States, and with Big Sky we have the most skiable acreage. Because we own the summit of Lone Mountain, we could, in the future, be number one in vertical.” Moonlight’s history sheds light on how they got to this major tipping point. In 1973, Lee Poole and his wife Lathie moved to Montana from Cleveland, Ohio. They’d married right out of high school and had two kids. Cleveland, he says, had the highest murder rate in the United States, and was terribly polluted. He remembers when the Cuyahoga River caught on fire and burned for three days. In search of a better place to raise a family, they picked up and moved to Ennis, Montana. “We had $7,500 in our pocket,” Poole says. They spent seven years living and working at the Valley Garden Ranch in Ennis. In the 80s and early 90s, the Pooles started a series of successful businesses in the Madison Valley – an art gallery, a custom airplane business, and a real estate conservation company. He says the relationships they built with clients helped create new investors and investments. Big Sky Weekly “The goal from day one was to protect the property for wildlife habitat as much as possible. number two was to create as many jobs as we could out of ennis and the Big Sky area, which we’ve done.” When Plum Creek put the Jack Creek parcel up for sale in the early 90s, big names vied for the land: Ted Turner, the Nature Conservancy, Tim Blixeth, Ronald Reagan and Ross Perot. Poole, Joe Vujovich and Keith Brown purchased the 25,000-acre property in 1992. They hired John Cada, a wildlife biologist and timber expert who’d worked for Fish and Game, to study the ecosystem in the Jack Creek drainage. After a yearlong study, they made a goal to protect 22,000 - 23,000 acres and to keep the road “as private as possible.” Cada suggested building a ski area and said it would increase wildlife habitats on the north side of Lone Mountain. “When we purchased it, the property was clear cut, devastated,” Poole says. “It took years to clean it up. Joe and I went out there with borrowed and leased equipment, and we hired other contractors. Now, after almost 20 years, the trees have grown back and are 12-25 feet tall. We’ve got one of the largest elk calving grounds in the Madison, and our moose population has almost tripled. We’ve got whitetail and mule deer, mountain lions, wolves and bobcats. We’ve created a mini Yellowstone, and an ecosystem that we believe will be able to blend with humans.” Poole bought out Joe Vujovich in 2005. Then in early 2007, Poole and Brown decided to refinance the company and brought on Lehman Brothers as another partner. Lehman went Chapter 11 in 2008, and consequently, Moonlight laid off employees just before the ski area opened that fall. “It was really bad timing,” Poole says. They retrieved capital reserves from Lehman and rehired. After that, Moonlight attempted to find an investor to help buy back their loan from Lehman. But when Lehman Brothers reorganized, they tried to foreclose on the resort. Moonlight entered Chapter 11 and the subsequent lawsuit with Lehman. Poole declines to discuss the lawsuit because of the upcoming litigation. “In the meantime,” he says, “we’re still working with capital and developing partnerships.” Moonlight is also continuing negotiation with Lehman. “We have our plan and our vision, and we’re going to keep moving forward,” Poole says. The resort currently has funding through September 2011.
Poole says the business plan coming out of Chapter 11 is conservative. “This was really a horrible experience in the very beginning. But this just makes us better all the way around.” He is still a businessman selling a product he believes in: “We have this winter, and we’re working on our budgets for this coming summer. That includes amenity development and new real estate products.” He believes future markets will be in smaller, green products with reduced carrying cost. “Our goal is to make our company as efficient as possible—not just for ourselves, but also for our clients, our guests and our customers.” He adds that Moonlight is accessible to everyone: “You don’t have to own property to become a member at the golf course. The fees are the most competitive prices in the nation. We have nine holes and are working to potentially finish the front nine this summer.” They currently have 114 members. Remaining conservation-minded, he aims to create a self-contained energy system and is looking at biomass boilers and geothermal sources. Opening the Jack Creek Road might seem an obvious economic solution for the company. Poole maintains, “If that opens up, it would destroy the habitats, migration routes and everything else as we know it. If somebody asks and they want to go across, we have a program that allows them to do that. I’m proud to show everybody what’s happened back there.” His mission remains “to protect the land we love, and to create a habitat that is forever,” he says. “I will fight until I’m dead to protect that.” As for combining Moonlight and Big Sky into a mega-resort? While joining the skiing is positive, he says competing resorts create higher quality service and value. “Our plan is to make [skiing at Moonlight] as simple as possible. This has got to be a family-oriented, homegrown, Montana experience. If you want the glitz, go down to Aspen or Telluride. This is where you come and relax.” After 37 years in Montana and 19 owning the property, Poole wants thank the owners and employees at Moonlight for their support. “We’ve really had to cut back and everybody’s multi-tasking, including me,” he says. “Our community and the Ennis and Big Sky communities have been fantastic to us. Our suppliers and our contractors have been so faithful. 98 percent have understood our situation.” He philosophizes: “It’ll be interesting to see how this comes together, because you never know. We feel very good about it.” REGISTER TODAY! Big Sky Weekly WHO SAYS YOU CAN’T BE A ROCKSTAR? Wake up your lifeSM with our FREE, 12 Week WellwithBlueMT.com Registration Begins: December 5, 2010 Challenge Kickoff: January 4, 2011 Final Weigh-In: March 28, 2011 Find Us On An independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, an association of Independent Blue Cross and Blue Shield Plans. December 24, 2010 11
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