Leelanau.com Blog
leelanau county news • traverse city news • michigan news

(still) waiting for sugar loaf, photo by farlane.

The lift line is looooooooong today...

I posted this photo in April of 2008 after Brad Lutz announced he was pulling out of a purchase agreement. While we're waiting, here's a new poll!

 Loading ...

Discuss at Turning the page on Sugar Loaf.

In S-B once had 6,000 platted lots the Leelanau Enterprise presents a great look back Leelanau's largest town, Suttons Bay:

Suttons Bay was founded in 1854 by Harry C. Sutton. He thought the bay was a perfect place for a dock where he could supply steamer ships with cord wood for fuel, think of it as a ‘gas station’ for ships with wood burning boilers. At that time the place was called Suttonsburg. Mr. Sutton and a few others built some homes. Mr. W.J. Sweet built the first store. According to the book “Suttons Bay Sesquicentennial Celebration 1854-2004” both Sutton and Sweet sold their property about 1870 or 1871 to Father Herbstrit, a new character in town.

An earlier edition of that book “Suttons Bay Centennial Celebration 1854-1954” has this to say about the father:
“In 1871 Father Andrew Herbstrit, a missionary priest and real estate operator, platted six thousand lots and laid out Pleasant City. His avowed intention being to establish a ‘National University’ on the bay, endowing it with one half the proceeds from the sale of lots.

Read on at the Enterprise for information about the 6,000 lots that were platted, how it might have been named Pleasant City and a cool old photo.

Photo Credit: Public School, Suttons Bay Michigan by UpNorth Memories - Donald (Don) Harrison. See more cool old photos in Don's Suttons Bay slideshow and read more from Suttons Bay on the Leelanau Blog!

Comments are now closed on this post - head over to A New Leaf at Sugar Loaf to follow the ongoing cavalcade of folly that Leelanau's signature ski hill has become.

Over at the redoubtable Glen Arbor Sun, Jacob Wheeler asks if Sugar Loaf has a new suitor. Can Sugar Loaf Mountain Come Back? by Jeff Smith of Traverse Magazine offers a great timeline showing some highlights in the history of Sugar Loaf and some info about the present day.

Please post your information, memories and thoughts about Sugar Loaf Mountain below. I'd like to have us try and take the discussion to a level that moves Sugar Loaf past the sordid mess it has become over the last decade and a half and towards becoming a productive driver of Leelanau's economy once again. Click for the Sugar Loaf Poll!

I'd also ask you to start asking your elected officials at every level you can why an entity that directly employed hundreds of people and indirectly hundreds more has been allowed to fester for so long and what they are going to do to change this.

Here's the previous thread on Sugar Loaf from August - December 2010, the Glen Arbor Sun's Sugar Loaf Resort features and the Friends of Sugar Loaf group on Facebook. More links? Add them below...

Photo credit: Christie Petersen via "Friends of Sugar Loaf"

Join Judy Levin in Suttons Bay, Saturday, May 15 from 1:00 pm - 3:00pm, for the Suttons Bay Village Open House Blast. Nine houses will be featured. Download the flyer for more information on the the houses.

For more information, please visit Judy's site or contact her at 231-218-7653 or judy@judylevin.com.

Sugar Loaf Resort closed almost ten years ago, but thanks to the efforts of Cleveland and Centerville Townships and the Leelanau County Planning Department, Sugar Loaf has a vision for the future.  A series of three visioning sessions, supported through the EPA's Technical Assistance to Brownfields Communities (TAB) program and funded through efforts of the Leelanau County Brownfield Redevelopment Authority (LCBRA), and its Environmental Consultants, were held last month.

The 250 participants received an overview of the area and constraints to development. Sabine Martin, from TAB, facilitated the 8-person groups, which outlined their land use and design visions for the area. Each group presented their visions and priorities, and had chance to rank all priorities and visions. The top priorities from the sessions included topics such as: a year round recreational center, increased job opportunity, development of the airstrip for revenue, and local commerce. The priorities form all of the sessions are listed on the Cleveland Township government site.  In addition to the sessions, the public was able to submit comment online.

What's next? A report will be prepared, with input from the three session and public comments, by the TAB (Technical Assistance to Brownfields Communities) program of Kansas State University. The authors will be Lisa Szymecko and Dr. Sabine Martin, with renderings done by Professor Pat Crawford of Michigan State University. The report will be released in August and will form the basis for the Townships' Sub-Planning process.

In Offers to buy 'Loaf' revealed, Eric Carlson of the Leelanau Enterprise brings us up to date on the state of Sugar Loaf in a well-researched article. He says that numerous offers to buy Sugar Loaf Resort from the "unnamed guarantors" of the mortgage have been made ... and rejected.

Real estate agent Allen Reed is quoted as saying that Kate Wickstrom appears to be out of the picture and also that the buildings are now viewed as more of a liability than an asset. Real estate agent and County Commissioner David "Chauncey" Shiflett of Leland agrees with Reed's assessment.  Shiflett helped establish the county's new Brownfield Redevelopment Authority and new Land Bank Fast Track Authority.

Clearly a "blighted or obsolete" property, Sugar Loaf Resort may present an opportunity for a developer interested in benefiting from special tax incentives as well as government loans and grants available for cleanup and redevelopment through the Brownfield Redevelopment Authority.

In addition, the county's newly-formed Land Bank Fast Track Authority has the legal ability to "quiet title" on certain properties where ownership is contested, unclear or potentially subject to forfeiture due to unpaid property taxes - circumstances which might describe Sugar LoafResort. Action by the two county authorities could attract a private developer willing to take on project to redevelop Sugar Loaf Resort.

"I have no idea whether the newly seated Leelanau County Board of Commissioners will support the idea of doing something to improve the situation there," Shiflett said. "But I know that trying to do so is something that I will be focusing on. I know that many of our constituents support the idea of the county taking some action to help revive Sugar Loaf."

Chauncey is quoted at the end of the article saying that:

"In some economies, it might not make sense for a county government to get too deeply involved in something like this, but we're not in a normal economy right now – and now may be the right time for the county to help spearhead an effort to revive Sugar Loaf."

Over the holidays, I looked around at the downtowns, and while I saw some activity, to me it looked like every winter weekend back in the day when Sugar Loaf was a going concern. I'm wondering what you think about whether or not the county government should get involved.

The Leelanau Enterprise reports that McKeough Land Company, developer of the Bay Hill project (Leland Township off M-204 at Hoeft Road) has gone out of business.

“Unfortunately, we just couldn’t weather the real estate and credit crisis,” company president Mike McKeough was quoted as saying in a news release provided in response to an Enterprise query.
“Our cash flow really began to seize up in the beginning of 2008,” McKeough said. “And although we had many terrific properties with apparent equity, like Bay Hill of Leland, we just couldn’t raise the necessary capital to continue operating as McKeough Land Company.”

...A new company, Terra Firma Management, has been established to manage, market and sell McKeough’s holdings, offering many of its properties at “bank pricing” that in some cases may be 65 percent below previous list prices.

Photo: Dark times on Bay Hill by Andy McFarlane

Sugar Loaf area resident Bryan Poirier - who was up late practicing for the upcoming New Third Coast tour opening for Neil Young - was startled Sunday night to see "a bunch of lights zooming up and down the face of the mountain, but I just figured it was Jim Rennie 'sleep-grooming' again."

Rennie, another area resident, admitted that he had sought treatment for the rare sleep disorder. He said that he had been headed over to the Loaf to set a few gates "just for practice" when he too saw the strange lights. Upon arrival, he realized that the lights were a remarkable array of unidentified flying objects. By morning, county law enforcement officials and a growing crowd of curious onlookers were on the scene.

Calls to Sugar Loaf's owner, attorney and realtor went unanswered, setting people's minds somewhat at ease that it was still business as usual at the long-shuttered resort. Shortly after noon excitement was rekindled when, at a hastily called press conference, it was announced that Sugar Loaf Mountain had been sold ... to aliens!

The purchasing party is a consortium of several alien species who are calling themselves INVADER (Intergalactic Negotiators for Very Amicable Development of Extra-species Relationships). INVADER spokesman Klaatu announced the sale of Sugar Loaf for an undisclosed sum and pledged a massive investment in anti-gravity chair lifts and advanced alien snowmaking technology that would render the hills skiable 10 months out of the year.

When pressed about the selling price, Klaatu said "Long ago, we abandoned the concept of money ... along with war, starvation and reality television but I can tell you that all parties are happy with the outcome."

Alien attorney Zoth the Destroyer dismissed as "outrageous" speculation that the resort would be used as the beachhead for an alien invasion and regrettably ate our photographer, cutting the interview short. We did receive a lovely fruit basket by way of apology, however.

The Leelanau Enterprise talked to Brad Lutz regarding the listing of Sugar Loaf:

Lutz told the Enterprise on Wednesday morning that his “option to purchase” Sugar Loaf Resort from Wickstrom remains in force, and that he was still in the “due diligence” phase of his efforts to acquire the resort. Even though Wickstrom decided to list the property for sale after Lutz signed an agreement with her, he said "nothing has changed from my perspective."

Read Sugar Loaf listed for sale: Omena man still interested in the Enterprise.

The New York Times seems to have a thing for Leelanau lately. In For Mario Batali, It’s Molto Michigan a few weeks ago, they took a visit to the renown chef's Leelanau vacation home (complete with video slideshow with photos by Gary Howe and a tasty pizza recipe).

Then last week they looked at the tourism and real estate market in Leland in A Lower Peninsula Spot Draws a Wider Crowd.

Mark Carlson, a real estate agent and manager of the Leland office of Coldwell Banker Schmidt Realtors, said Leland essentially has four types of properties, with varying degrees of cost and no set architectural style.

First in price and demand are beachfront and waterfront houses and lots; whether they are on Lake Leelanau or Lake Michigan, price per frontage foot remains basically the same, with a range of $2,500 to $12,500 and total prices from $1 million to $5 million, Mr. Carlson said. Then there are houses with water or sunset views, followed by inland properties that contain small farms or vineyards, which start at around $4,000 per acre, though vineyards can bring as much as $10,000. Last, there are the houses and bungalows within Leland itself, not on the water or in view of it but a short walk away, which start at around $250,000.

My first suspicion was one writer trying to justify a vacation home but that's apparently not the case. Thanks to all who passed these links along!

Photo credit: 'Janice Sue' by John Levanen