The Business Of Skiing: Attracting Overseas Investors
BOSTON (CBS) - Snow is on the way for northern New England ski areas but some are raising tens of millions of dollars from foreign investors to morph into four season resorts.
The Pump House Indoor Waterpark is only part of an expensive expansion at Jay Peak to turn it into a four season resort, all because of a federal program called EB5.
Read: Anthony Silva's Series: Keeping the Hills Alive
Jay Peak President Bill Stenger attracted close to $100 million from foreign investors.
"We want to employ people on a year-round basis, and one of the big things about what we're doing is job creation," Stenger told WBZ NewsRadio 1030.
He's created hundreds of new jobs. But he has also created dozens of green cards for those foreign investors.
In Vermont, if a foreign investor makes a half-million dollar investment that creates 10 jobs, that person receives a permanent visa to the U.S.
Mount Snow spokesman Dave Meeker says his mountain is following Jay Peak's lead.
"We've been successful thus far, we just really started attracting investors," Meeker said.
Mount Snow wants to raise $53 million for a massive snow making and base lodge expansion.
Local businesses love the idea.
In a Jay Peak promotional video, a local electrician says he hired dozens of people for the project.
More Vermont ski resorts may jump into the EB5 pool of cash.
WBZ NewsRadio 1030's Anthony Silva reports
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