Garibaldi At Squamish in Receivership

The planned $3.5B Garibaldi At Squamish ski resort project is to be sold under receivership.

The proposal is the work of Aquilini Investment Group, who owns the Vancouver Canucks and Rogers Arena, and Northland Properties, who developed and own Revelstoke Mountain Resort.

The proposed resort on Mount Garibaldi’s Brohm Ridge was envisioned to include 124 ski runs, three gondolas, 18 chairlifts and three interconnected villages, with 5,723 hotel and housing units. It was projected to create roughly 2,500 full-time jobs.

The garibaldiatsquamish.ca projects website pop-up communicated the following message:

As you may be aware, Garibaldi At Squamish is undergoing a court-appointed receivership process. During the receivership, technical work on the project will continue, as approved by the Receiver, with the goal of positioning the project for long-term success. The Garabaldi At Squamish team appreciates your support and we look forward to providing positive developments in the coming months.

For information on the receivership, please contact Philippe Mendelson at Ernst and Young Philippe.mendelson@parthenon.ey.com.

The project was being undertaken by Garibaldi At Squamish Inc. and Garibaldi At Squamish Limited Partnership.

After receiving an Environmental Assessment Certificate (EAC) for the project on January 26, 2016, the developers were required by the EAC to have substantially started on the project by January 26, 2021. By then, the project had not progressed and the developers sought out a five-year extension, which was ultimately granted. The project still has not been able to progress, and no further extensions are permitted under the Province’s Environmental Assessment Act.

The petitioners sought out the receivership because of a lack of progress on the project and a lack of evidence that any progress can be made in the near future.

Receiverships are often sought out by external creditors, but in this case, the receivership application against Garibaldi At Squamish has been brought forth by Aquilini, and Northland Properties over inter-company loans.

The projects many opponents, in addition to the usual environmental and local opposition, included Whistler Blackcomb, the municipality of Whistler, Tourism Whistler, and the Whistler Chamber of Commerce–these groups most likely are pleased.

This resort drama is far from the final chapter and with the involved parties and their propensity to spin financial outcomes in their favour, we can only guess where this will end.