The operators for the past two years of Swain Resort have announced the purchase of the Allegany County recreation attraction, completing a lease-to-own agreement that was reached in August 2009 with the owners of Swain Recreation Center, LLC.
The purchase was made by Denton Hill Family and Ski Resort Inc. whose officers are Scott and Jodi Carts and Shawn and Celeste Schoonover. The two couples have been operating Swain along with Ski Denton, located 65 miles south of Swain in Potter County, Pennsylvania.
“We are delighted to complete our agreement and to close on the purchase of Swain Resort,” said Scott Carts. “Over the past two years, we have worked extremely hard at improving the facilities and services to ensure a quality family experience at Swain and we are excited about the possibilities that the future holds for Swain and our customers.”
Swain Resort has been in business for 64 years and is one of the oldest continuously operating ski areas in New York State. Through the efforts of the new owners, Swain is a year round facility which provides skiing, snowboarding, and a snow tubing park during the winter months and has mountain biking, motocross racing and sportsman festivals during the other three seasons.
The installation in the summer of 2011 of 3,000 feet of snowmaking lines now provides Swain with 98 percent snowmaking capacity, adding Maverick, Zig-Zag, Fools Gold, and The Pass to the accessible trails.
Last year, Swain also began the first phase of its overnight lodging plans to create ski and stay opportunities with the purchase of the Mountainside Inn, adding a two-building, nine-unit, lodging property that is adjacent to its parking lot.
The next phase is the slope side development that will provide ski in/ski out access to the planned trail expansion on the west side of the mountain. This area encompasses a 27-unit sub-division, including available lots ranging in size up to three acres. Half of the properties will have direct slope access, and the remainder will have ski in/hike out access through a series of right-of-ways and trails. The mountain bike, hiking and cross-country ski trail system is also being integrated into the design so residents will have year-round recreation access from their properties.
Also in the future are plans to make the resort more energy efficient by proposing to replace current snow guns with ones utilizing new technology, promoting rainwater/snow melt harvesting with a hilltop water reservoir and water pump relocation, installing a high speed chair lift and replacing outdoor and indoor lighting.
Carts said the focus continues on making Swain an all-seasons resort attraction. The success of building and hosting three events in 2010 on a motocross track on a portion of the slope area led to the endorsement this year from the Western New York Motocross Association and the presentation of four successful sanctioned events and mid-week practice sessions.
Swain also provides lift-serviced mountain biking on about a dozen weekends through the off-season. The biking trail system continues to be expanded and enhanced to provide a greater diversity of rider experience.
