Sugar Loaf ski resort may get new life as public recreational area

• Leelanau Conservancy plans to reopen Sugar Loaf as an year-round recreation area
• The ski resort has been abandoned since 2000, with a series of owners failing to realize plans for the property
• The conservancy was gifted the 285 acres on the condition that it raise $8 million for restoring and maintaining the site

For over two decades, the abandoned Sugar Loaf ski resort sat as a blight on Leelanau County’s picturesque landscape. After a string of owners that let the property fall into disrepair, Leelanau Conservancy announced plans Thursday to restore the site as an all-year public recreation area. 

The current landowner is handing over the 285 acres as a gift to the conservancy, contingent on the group’s ability to raise the $8 million needed for its plan to restore and maintain the area. The current owner has chosen to remain anonymous, the conservancy says. 

Tom Nelson, executive director of Leelanau Conservancy, described the moment the landowner approached him with hopes to conserve the property as ‘pure elation.’ 

“It is one of the most special landmarks in all of Northern Michigan, and a priority for the Leelanau Conservancy for a long time, to protect it, if we could,” Nelson said. “So to have a new landowner come to us, asking us for a vision that they could get behind to save this incredible spot was a miracle.”

The conservancy will own Sugar Loaf once fundraising is complete. The conservancy announced it has already raised $6.4 million and has until December 31 to raise the remaining $1.6 million from community members. 

Leland-based real estate adviser Ross Satterwhite has represented the owner throughout the process.

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“The Conservancy and the owner are anxious to get the project going, so the goal is to complete the fund raising by year end so the Conservancy can begin the process of reopening the property to the public next year,” Satterwhite wrote in a statement to Bridge Michigan. “What the donor has offered is truly incredible and beyond generational. Soon people will be sharing family moments again at Sugar Loaf just like they did 25+ years ago.” 

The Leelanau Conservancy’s project isn’t the only one of its kind. In nearby Grand Traverse County, the Grand Traverse Regional Land Conservancy is helping a closed golf course return to its natural state.

The Leelanau Conservancy’s proposed plan includes ecological restoration, a community gathering area at the base of the slope, a summit access trail, viewing benches, a sledding hill and a summit pavilion. Although the site will not be reopened with a ski lift, visitors will be permitted to hike to the summit in the winter to downhill ski.

“We have spent the last couple years putting together a really thorough site plan to create a trail system and gathering places at the site for the public,” Nelson said. “The plans really accentuate the natural beauty, maintain the scenic views, which are really incredible, of Lake Michigan and Leelanau County’s inland lakes, farmland and forest lands.” 

‘It couldn’t have been more of my dream’

The beloved former ski resort is located near the village of Cedar, about 20 miles northwest of Traverse City, and was once a major employer and driver of winter tourism for the region. It opened as the Sugar Loaf Winter Sports Club in 1947, and became a resort, complete with a hotel, in 1962.

The resort closed in 2000 and has been passed from owner to owner, none of whom were able to realize plans for the site. At the end of 2020, the anonymous landowner, an entity known as SPV 45 LLC, purchased the property from Sweet Bread LLC. In 2021, the hotel and other structures were finally demolished, funded by the anonymous owner.

Brenda Barnes lives in one of the townhouses right next to the resort with her husband, James, and has had to drive past the deteriorating hotel for 13 years.

“From where we parked the car, we could see broken windows all over the hotel,” Barnes said. “As the years would go by, we could just see more and more and more damage. … We knew people were breaking into the building.”  

Barnes was delighted to hear the news after observing the demolition and wondering what would happen. 

“It couldn’t have been more of my dream,” Barnes said. “It’s what my husband and I were hoping would happen all along. We dreaded the idea that it was going to turn into a big subdivision up there. We're pretty excited about the idea of having a large green space that everybody can enjoy, and whether it's winter or summer, we have seven grandkids who just really want to go climb around and explore.”

Despite being abandoned for 25 years, residents love the nostalgia of Sugar Loaf. The Leelanau Historical Society opened an exhibit last year highlighting the history of the resort, and on the “Friends of Sugar Loaf” Facebook page, people reminisce about the glory days. 

Nelson is thrilled for the day the property will become open to the public. 

“That's the day I've been working toward for the last three and a half years,” Nelson said. “It's something of a symbol of … the power of the community to rally around what they love, and particularly our natural resources, our land and water, and write a new chapter for what had been a terribly sad story. And that new chapter is pure sunshine and delight.”