A major Canadian developer of North American ski resorts has bought the company that owns the Big Island Country Club, a purchase that includes neighboring land entitled for 106 home sites, a club house and a 40-unit lodge. Canadian developer
buys Big Island courseStar-Bulletin Staff
Intrawest Corp., a publicly held company based in Vancouver, purchased the course's owner on Jan. 9, according to a statement from the brokers who handled the purchase.
The Saiga family of Japan developed the North Kona course in the early 1990s but never followed through with the homes and lodging because of a lack of funding from Japan. The country club has been open since 1996.
Intrawest has no specific plans to develop the property, but has shown an interest in doing so, said Joel LaPinta, a Realtor with Prudential Orchid Isle Properties, which represented Intrawest along with WorldNet Capital Corp. of San Diego.
In keeping with the zoning ordinance of the 425-acre property, Intrawest will spend $1.5 million to build a community center and will also build a volunteer fire station, LaPinta said.
Intrawest, owner of 10 mountain resorts including Colorado's Copper Mountain, is known in the industry for its flashy retail- and entertainment-oriented approach to resort development. For the year ended in June 2001, the firm made a profit of $60.6 million, a 17 percent increase from the year earlier.