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Here's a preface to the preface. This comes via our Absolute Michigan web site. You probably know some of the background info we offer but there is some interesting reading, especially if you follow the link to Liko's web site and (under Friends of Sugar Loaf) read the letter from Skip Telgard of the Bluebird.

Today we're bringing you a whole lot of information about a Michigan landmark that is very near and dear to my heart: Sugar Loaf Mountain in Leelanau County. I am indeed a Sugar Loafer. I grew up skiing there, worked as a lift operator and was taken for thousands of dollars in services rendered but never paid for by the last management company to run the resort and was one of the leaders of a movement to try and acquire the resort as a community ski area. That effort was halted when the current owner, Kate Wickstrom purchased Sugar Loaf.

Since then, the resort has lain dormant. Then, about a month ago, Liko Smith emerged on the scene as a potential savior for the resort. Close on his heels were a slew of stories and accusations that have made many question whether we're climbing back on the merry-go-round of disappointment that has become synonymous with the name of Sugar Loaf. Today I'd like to present for your consideration a wide range of information including an interview with Mr. Smith on Absolute Michigan Radio co-sponsored by Traverse Legal, so that you can come to your own conclusions.

Jacob Wheeler of the Glen Arbor Sun has a feature looking at Liko Smith, his business connections and what it would take to resurrect the long-beleaguered ski resort:

Michael Berry, President of the Denver-based National Ski Areas Association, thought that reopening Sugar Loaf was entirely possible. Berry guessed that one could acquire new ski lifts and snowmaking equipment at Sugar Loaf for $4-5 million, and satisfy insurance company standards within two or three months (there are only two or three players in the industry).

...But one ski expert at a Midwestern resort, who asked to remain anonymous, doubted Berry’s optimistic prognosis for Sugar Loaf, and estimated that it would cost at least $10-15 million to buy equipment, make snow, and open the hills. He added that Smith would have to order lifts by next month, or there would be no way to get them in time for next winter.

...“Sugar Loaf would have to pull skiers away from (nearby resorts) Crystal Mountain, Nubs Nob and Boyne. … The market isn’t getting any bigger. Sugar Loaf would have to draw from the existing players.”

Click through to read more and other coverage from the Glen Arbor Sun.

If you'd like to meet Liko and hear more about his plans, there's a $100 Quad Fund mixer at Red Ginger in Traverse City. More about that and more from Liko at likosmith.com. (hint: click the "Friends of Sugar Loaf" for some interesting reading and insight into Liko Smith and the feeling in the community).

By far the most active discussion has taken place in the Friends of Sugar Loaf group on Facebook.

The Leelanau Enterprise reports that convicted felon Remo Polselii and his wife Hanna are still in control of Sugar Loaf Resort:

Shortly after she purchased Sugar Loaf resort in March 2005, Wickstrom declared publicly that Polselli was “definitely out of the picture” – an assertion she has repeated several times since then.

But facts to the contrary emerged during a hearing Monday in a suit filed by waste treatment plant operator Sugar Loaf Service Company over an unpaid $500,000-plus sewer bill the company claimed Wickstrom owed. Named as co-defendant in the case was the holder of Wickstrom’s mortgage on the resort, Transcapital Bank of Florida, represented locally by Traverse City attorney Roy Jay Montney Jr.

Montney informed Judge Thomas G. Power during this week’s hearing that Transcapital no longer holds the mortgage on Sugar Loaf Resort – a fact that Sugar Loaf Service Company attorney Tom Pezetti, on the other side of the aisle, said he’d learned only Friday. Montney said that a corporation apparently controlled by Hanna Karcho Polselli had acquired the mortgage from Transcapital, and had subsequently assigned the mortgage to yet another bank.

To read more check out the the article at the Leelanau Enterprise.
Check out more Sugar Loaf news at Leelanau.com.

Photo credit:  Leelanau Enterprise

An investor group has purchased the King's Challenge Golf Course near Sugar Loaf in Cedar and laid out an ambitious plan to transform the course into one that can compete on a national level.

Bob Kuras, president of The Homestead will head the new operation and says that two of the most respected firms in the business, the Arnold Palmer Design Company and Wadsworth Golf Construction Company, have been retained to make improvements to the course.

“The quality of Palmer’s work is known throughout the world.  And, Brent Wadsworth is a friend and seasonal neighbor who has built 800 golf courses including those at some of the most prestigious clubs in the world.  We are fortunate to have Brent as an adviser, and contractor,” says Kuras.

All of the improvements are being planned, built, and managed to qualify for the Audubon International’s Cooperative Sanctuary Program and the LEED (the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification. Work is underway and will be done in stages on the course and facilities. The course is expected to open later this year.

Also see Top golf coming to Leelanau County in the Traverse City Record-Eagle.

Now if we could just get the Sugar Loaf thing moving...

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This Wednesday (May 23) there will be a benefit, four person best ball scramble at the Leland Country Club & Leland Lodge Restaurant. Cost is $100 per person and includes 18 holes with a cart on this private course, lunch, great prizes and a scrumptious dinner at the Leland Lodge Restaurant.

Monies raised will help the Leelanau Children's Center to provide scholarships and programs for young children. For more information or to sign up, call 256-7841.

Also, mark your calendars for their Ice Cream Socials held Tuesday, June 5 at LCC Northport and Wednesday, June 6 at LCC in Leland.

Photo credit: Leland Country Club - Keith Burnham

This week's Enterprise reports on a new wrinkle in the already wrinkled tapestry that is Sugar Loaf. Cleveland Township resident and former planning commission chairman Charles J. Ryant Jr. has announced his intention to circulate a petition for a referendum on a zoning ordinance amendment that the Township Board adopted to streamline the Planned Unit Development (PUD) approval process for Sugar Loaf. Ryant apparently has issues with the lack of concessions required of developers who apply for PUDs.

The article also notes that Kings Challenge golf pro and manager Chuck Olson is now working for John Sills and that he is confident the course will open this spring. Olson did say:

"From the customer’s perspective, nothing’s going to change at the golf courses, but in terms of reuniting the golf course properties with the ski resort - what's happening now appears to be a step backward rather than a step forward."

Read Referendum plan, suit cloud Sugar Loaf’s future in the Leelanau Enterprise.

Yesterday the Traverse City Business News reported that the former owners of the King's Challenge golf course are suing Sugar Loaf Development LLC to foreclose.

The investment group, headed by John D. Sills and his SJS Development Co., said the new owners failed to make a required payment of $12,500 on Dec. 5 and owe about $27,000 in Cleveland Township property taxes due last September. “The land contract has been in default since Sept. 15, 2006 or longer,” Norman Droste, attorney for Sills and his partners, wrote in a letter to the current owner. Droste said he sees no chance that the new owners will retain control of the golf course. “The foreclosure has commenced, and a judgment will be entered three months after we filed the lawsuit,” he said. That means the foreclosure would be final in early April...

The golf course is south of M-22, next to the now-shuttered Sugar Loaf resort. The resort's failure to resume operations has been seen as a drag on the viability of King’s Challenge.
Sugar Loaf Development paid $3 million for the golf course, its buildings and its fixtures, nearly $1 million for 115 adjacent acres, and about $400,000 for several additional parcels.
The deal involved a  $1,900,000 upfront payment, and the remainder was scheduled to be paid in monthly installments until May 2010.

Read Ex-owners foreclosing on King’s Challenge golf course in the TC Biz News.