Skyline’s purchase of Horseshoe Resort part of plans for four-season playground

By Colleen Isherwood
Editor

TORONTO—Skyline Investments is working to develop a site at Port McNicoll, Ontario on Georgian Bay as a destination for those who love fishing and boating. And Skyline recently purchased Horseshoe Resort, which has long been known as a mecca for skiing and golf, for $36 million.

But here’s the kicker—Skyline president Gil Blutrich, who has been nominated as Entrepreneur of the Year by Ernst & Young, envisions the two in combination.

“We want to establish a link between Port McNicoll and Horseshoe Valley—have them under one umbrella,” he told CLN in a wide-ranging interview last month.
 
“We are trying to develop two villages using the same architectural team, to create a true four-season community north of Toronto.”

Horseshoe Valley and The Heights at Horseshoe attract 700,000 visitors to the ski resort each year, and have two golf courses that are among the top 50 in Canada, he noted.
 
“These are mature, beautiful 18-hole golf courses.  Blutrich is planning $5 million in renovations at Horseshoe.

“There is a trail that leads from Horseshoe Valley to Port McNicoll—people can walk or bike [between them], a distance of 22 kilometres or 15 minutes by car,” he added.

Port McNicoll, established exactly 100 years ago in 1908, has a harbour that was used for both freighters and Canadian Pacific passenger ships up until 1965. Its protected harbour is one of the closest Georgian Bay destinations to Toronto.

“They have some of the best fishing for bass in the region,” Blutrich said.

Skyline has already begun transformation of the 825-acre property from a sleepy point just southeast of Midland, Ontario into Blutrich’s vision.

“It will be a mature community with Cape Cod style buildings with strong architectural guidelines. There will be 1,500 eventual [condominium] units with three to four hotels.  There will be a commercial village that will be the centre of many of the outdoor activities—places selling everything from fishing rods to million dollar yachts.”

The centre of gravity at Port McNicoll will be the $10 million yacht club in the centre of the village on the harbour.  It will provide visitors and owners with a luxurious indoor and outdoor pool, high-end spa, restaurant, bar, meeting space, library, and media room.  On top of that, members will have access to lots of watercraft including fishing yachts and sailboats.

“During the winter, when the water freezes we will have the second largest outdoor rink in the province [next to Ottawa’s Rideau Canal]. There can be hockey tournaments on the slip – exactly like there were 100 years ago.”

Legendary hockey coach Mike Keenan is building a house on the slip, and he is part of the marketing pitch for Port McNicoll.

“The amount of activity will be mind boggling—visitors to Horseshoe or Port McNicoll will have a cross section of activities that includes yachting, fishing, biking, cross-country skiing, dirt bikes, 4 x 4 driving on 50 kilometres of paved, beautiful paths, downhill skiing, snowboarding and treetop climbing.  We’re going to add more—dogsleds, for example.  There will be so much to be, see and enjoy. 

“The synergy is phenomenal!” he said.

Soaring energy prices will help convince more and more Canadians from the Greater Toronto Area to stay home and enjoy their own province. The close proximity of the resorts to the GTA will increase their popularity, he added.

Skyline has engaged the Intrawest experts who planned Québec’s Mount Tremblant, Ontario’s Blue Mountain and BC’s Whistler developments to put together a master plan and design.  “All this expertise ensures a phenomenal resort/commercial proposition that can provide activities suitable for tourists and residents, boomers and second-home seekers.

“It’s uniqueness is that these are the first fully serviced communities in cottage country—visitors or owners coming to the villages will have one concierge address working at the highest level of hospitality Skyline is known for.  They can contact the concierge by phone or e-mail.  For example, they can ask them to make sure that by Friday at 2 p.m. there is food in the fridge, the lightbulbs are changed, the air conditioning is on, the grass is cut and there is a bottle of red wine on the table.

“Many people find that the drawback to cottage country is that they may have the dollars, but not the energy or time to spend taking care of their property,” Blutrich added.

Certainly, Skyline is something of a specialist in boutique hotels, recently winning some accolades.  Last month, Expedia.com selected Skyline’s 97-room Cosmopolitan Hotel in Toronto as one of the top one per cent of hotels in the world from a list of over 80,000 properties. Skyline also owns the 111-room upscale Pantages Hotel in downtown Toronto. 

Given Skyline’s background, it’s not surprising that new hotels at both Port McNicoll and Horseshoe will be 100-room boutique properties.

Future Horseshoe plans include a boutique spa hotel—adult only—in addition to the Horseshoe Inn.  Port McNicoll’s hotel would be a yacht club-themed property reminiscent of the period around 1900, the golden era of grand Muskoka hotels.

Blutrich said each resort will be “a very selective, unique environment.  We are striving to give the guest a unique experience in terms of service, feel and design. Between the end of this year until 2011 there will be a massive, dramatic change on the landscapes at Port McNicoll and Horseshoe Valley.”

Skyline is a diverse company dealing with real estate, mainly in Ontario and Quebec.  It has income producing properties such as shops, office and hotel developments in different partnerships.  The company owns 1,500 condominiums in the GTA.

They also own the last undeveloped parcel of real estate in Toronto’s core—right near the Sheraton Centre and First Canadian Place.  Skyline plans to develop another five-star boutique hotel—this one in conjunction with office and residences—“almost like a city within a building,” Blutrich said.