SAM Magazine—Donnelly, Idaho, Oct. 14, 2016—Less than a week before a scheduled auction that would have sold off several of Tamarack Resort's critical assets necessary for operations, including chairlifts and an unfinished mid-mountain lodge, a group of local homeowners swooped in and acquired “substantially all of the assets of NewTrac,” which owned a bulk of the property at the resort.

A group of homeowners established Tamarack Homeowners Acquisition Company to acquire NewTrac's resort assets. In turn, the Tamarack Municipal Authority, the longstanding homeowners' association which has operated Tamarack off and on over the past decade, will once again operate the area—this time through a newly established TMA subsidiary, TMA Operating and Technology Company. This new entity will manage skiing, food and beverage, lodging, and summer operations.

“We have all the assets we need for successful operations,” said Tamarack GM Brad Larsen. “Tamarack will be open this winter and long into the future.”

The auction, which will still take place on Monday to sell off other assets on the block, was scheduled by Valley County after it seized two chairlifts, a zip line course, and the lodge because NewTrac hadn't paid property taxes on the assets for three years.

As part of the acquisition, the Tamarack Municipal Association (TMA) paid $269,075 in back taxes. That move allowed NewTrac to retake ownership of those assets in order to sell them, according to a report by the Idaho Statesman. Several properties the new owners didn't buy will still be sold at auction.

It is Larson's hope that the TMA will be able to resurrect the many unfinished commercial properties at the resort. “The long-term outlook is very positive, because the owners can be very proactive toward finding developers and investors to help finish our unfinished real estate projects,” he said.

Tamarack is scheduled to open for the 2016-17 winter season on Dec. 9.

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