GREENVILLE, Maine — The Big Moose Mountain Ski Area in Greenville and 3,000 acres next door have gone up for sale with a combined price of $27 million.
The sale comes after plans to develop the resort into a destination ski resort fell through. According to real estate agent Rodney Folsom Jr., who is managing the sale, funding was the primary issue.
Property owner James Confalone has been offering to sell the ski area for more than a decade, Folsom explained, but this is the first time in decades the combined 4,500 acres are both for sale.
The total property includes the mountain, farmland, and lakefront property. Folsom said there is "a lot of great terrain there certainly and just a very beautiful setting that they have over there.”
Many in the community shared they were not disappointed that grand plans for the ski mountain never came to fruition. Carla Ritchie, for instance, said she prefers the mountain to keep its family-skiing feel.
“Personally, I don't want big development to come in and try to make this to be something that it's never been,” Ritchie said.
Ritchie has no interest in owning the ski resort, which is individually priced at $6 million, but she and the Moosehead Regional Land Trust are interested in the neighboring 3,000 acres. As president of the trust, she is leading an effort to garner community support and purchase the property for conservation.
“We want to do what we can to continue that public access and keep land available for people to recreate on and for people to get a chance to be outside and together,” Ritchie said.
Nonprofit group Friends of the Mountain has been operating the ski resort for the past 12 years. In a statement, the group said they were “optimistic about what the opportunities of a potential sale of this cherished mountain presents for our community.”
The group will run the mountain again for a 13th year. Damage from last year’s winter storms ruined piping necessary for making snow, but the final mile of pipe was delivered Monday morning.
That said, the first day of skiing would up to Mother Nature, according to staff.