The purchase of the 200-acre ski area from Whitetail Resort Limited Partnership includes the ski lodge, lifts, 15 trails, equipment and other assets, he said.
"Whitetail will continue to operate much in the same fashion as it did" since it opened in 1991, according to Flynn. The real estate lands were purchased from the Whitetail Land Partnership.
Snow Time was the high bidder for the resort and associated properties after three attempts by governmental agencies to purchase the properties.
The Dauphin County General Authority in 1998 tried to buy the resort but pulled out after Snow Time filed a lawsuit claiming unfair business practices in Dauphin County Court. The authority is constructing a golf course and conference center scheduled to open adjacent to Whitetail in 2001.
The Northumberland County General Authority then tried to buy the ski resort and golf course before backing out. Last spring the Mercersburg General Purpose Authority attempted to buy the resort and golf course but couldn't sell all of the $42 million in tax-free revenue bonds needed to finance the sale.
The owners of the financially troubled ski resort then put it up for auction during the summer with Snow Time offering the highest price, according to Whitetail spokeswoman Rachel Nichols.
Don MacAskill was hired as the general manager for Whitetail in October 1998. The former general manager of the Okemo Mountain Resort in Vermont resigned after the 1998-99 season, but has been rehired by Snow Time, Nichols said.
"We are beginning to call people back in because there lots to be done before the season," Nichols said. The resort employs about 40 people year-round, but that expands to about 800 full- and part-time workers during the ski season with a payroll of about $2 million, MacAskill said in June.
According to Whitetail figures, about 140,000 skiers visited the resort in 1998-99, up from about 100,000 in 1997-98, one of the warmest winters on record. MacAskill said earlier this year that 1997-98 was the only year the resort did not show a profit.
MacAskill said in June the resort had an operating profit of about $1.2 million in 1998-99 on gross revenues of about $7 million.
