Hartford Business Journal

14 Hartford Business Journal • October 9, 2017 • www.HartfordBusiness.com Year-round Attraction Powder Ridge revamps business model to bridge four seasons By Patricia Daddona pdaddona@HartfordBusiness.com T he Powder Ridge Park in Middlefield and Brownstone Ex- ploration and Discovery Parks in Portland have long offered winter, spring and summertime recreational sports, but that fourth tourist season — fall — has historically been quiet. Company CEO Sean Hayes is trying to change that. This autumn's launch of Powder Ridge synthetic snow runs, coupled with this past summer's introductions of downhill mountain biking and mountaintop weddings, are intended to lift attendance and revenue during the fall season and year-round. They're also necessary to kickstart two businesses that have had to overcome mul- tiple challenges in recent years, Hayes said. "We hope fall becomes a primary season for us at Powder Ridge, because of the combination of synthetic snow runs, downhill mountain biking and mountain- top weddings," Hayes said. "To make the business model work, [the site] has to be a four-season facility." Starting this fall, Powder Ridge's syn- thetic snow aims to appeal more widely to racing clubs and more experienced skiers, allowing the facility to form a usable ski base with only three inches of snow, in- stead of three feet. "That's huge," Hayes said. "It'll provide season passholders with a guaranteed trail." Future school and parks and recreation training programs will also be part of the mix, he said. Increasing access to the sport is some- thing owners felt they needed to do to keep both businesses financially viable, Hayes said. Brownstone, which launched in 2007, provides zip lines, cliff walks, wakeboard- ing, kayaking, swimming and other outdoor activities. Despite years of recent facility improvements, attendance dropped 15 percent this year to about 87,000 visits from 103,000 a year earlier, largely a result of a cooler summer, Hayes said. Powder Ridge, which closed between 2006 and 2014, also had a decline in at- tendance this past year, though exact figures were not available. In its heyday, Powder Ridge drew tens of thousands of visitors, but the pre- vious owners tried to convert it into a water park when Six Flags burst onto the scene in Springfield, Mass., last decade, ruining its pros- pects, Hayes said. As primary owner and investor, Hayes purchased the ski resort in 2012 with 11 other investors who, combined, have spent more than $8 million making improve- ments. That included the recent $1 million investment in synthetic snow. They will spend millions more in coming years, he said. The synthetic snow project is coming in two phases. The first stage debuted in September, featuring 500 feet runs for ski- ing, snowboarding and tubing. Within two years, a skiing and snowboarding trail will be extended up to 2,800 feet to the top of the mountain, Hayes said. Synthetic snow's selling point is that it will allow beginners, who are prone to quit because it's hard to remain upright in the cold on real snow, to train in a more comfortable climate, he said. "Eighty percent of people who try skiing for the first time don't do it again," said Hayes. "That's something we couldn't accept." Powder Ridge now has the only synthet- ic snow ski run in New England, with the closest competitor located at the Liberty Mountain Snowflex Centre at Liberty Uni- versity in Lynchburg, Va., Hayes said. The new wedding season Powder Ridge also hopes to grow its busi- ness with mountaintop weddings, which it is marketing for the key fall foliage months of September and October. The owners acquired Marquee Events, a Hartford-based wedding company, in late 2016 and are booking nuptials in a moun- taintop gazebo that provides a 360-degree view of the Connecticut River Valley. "The 'new June' is October," Hayes said. "It's the most popular wedding month of the year." They also hired an executive chef. Bookings for weddings, banquets and corporate events are expected to help bolster the bottom line 10 months a year, with the exception of January and February, he said. The company budgets about $100,000 a year on advertising and marketing, and relies on the state's official tourism website for referrals to draw in customers. With marketing funding from the state reduced to $6.4 million this past fiscal year from $9.5 million the year before, and devoid of TV advertising, promoting the facility can be a challenge, he said. "If there's one year I could have used the state support, this would have been the year," he said. Powder Ridge has its own page on the state's tourism website, where it gets 65 percent of its indirect website referrals, Hayes said. "The digital play [through www.CTVisit. com] still is one of our biggest online referral sources to our website," he said. "We see the value in that for both of our businesses." Newlyweds Kevin and Carly Arpin celebrate their wedding with a mountaintop ceremony at Powder Ridge in Middlefield in September. Below, a skier tries out a synthetic snow run at Powder Ridge. PHOTO | JENNIFER SCHULTEN PHOTOGRAPHY America's 'golden visa' is losing its luster in China By Shen Lu CNNMoney C hinese people appear to be losing interest in a controversial Ameri- can visa program that has funneled billions of dollars to U.S. real estate developers, including some in Connecticut. For years, Chinese citizens have over- whelmed the EB-5 program, which grants U.S. green cards to foreigners who sink at least $500,000 into investments that create jobs. Their enthusiasm for the program — often referred to as the "golden visa" — has resulted in tens of thousands of applications, including some for Connecticut projects. Fairfield County realty developer Zhifeng "Jack" Yang, for example, has used the EB-5 program to help finance an apartment development in Mansfield. Downtown Hart- ford's Nixs restaurant was also said to be using Chinese investment from EB-5 when it opened a few years ago. But people in the industry say they have witnessed a significant drop in Chinese de- mand for the visas this year because of long waits and Beijing's efforts to make it harder to move money out of the country. "China is a victim of the popularity of the EB-5 program," said Ronald Klasko, an im- migration lawyer based in Philadelphia. The visa program appeals to wealthy Chinese citizens as a way to move money out of the country and also to secure better opportunities for their children. The surge in interest in recent years has caused a massive backlog, meaning applicants now have to wait many years for a green card. That situation — combined with Beijing's efforts to limit money flowing out of China — is making some potential investors think twice, experts say. The increased wariness comes amid uncer- tainty over the future of the EB-5 visa. It was set up in 1990 to boost the U.S. economy but has been criticized for lacking transparency and channeling money into wealthy urban areas. The program became an important source of cheap funding for U.S. real estate develop- ers after the financial crisis made banks reluc- tant to lend money for construction projects. It came under renewed scrutiny in May when a sister of Jared Kushner, President Trump's son-in-law and adviser, appeared in Beijing to try to drum up millions of dol- lars in Chinese investment for a skyscraper project being developed by the family busi- ness. (Jared Kushner stepped down as CEO of the company in January.) Chinese people snapped up 80 percent of the visas issued under the EB-5 pro- gram in the past two years, according to a CNNMoney analysis of government data. But those applying now may have to wait at least 10 years to get the green card because of the huge backlog, according to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. PHOTO | CNNMONEY Chinese people appear to be losing interest in a controversial American visa program that has funneled billions of dollars to U.S. real estate developers. PHOTO | CONTRIBUTED

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