Owner of Overstock.com Purchases Alaska's "Perfect Mountain" Ski Resort

Girdwood, Alaska - As Mother Nature dumped several inches of fresh powder on Anchorage, Alyeska Resort in Girdwood formally announced Dec. 2 its purchase by real estate mogul and Overstock.com owner John Byrne III.

The deal has been in the works for several months and has been well-known to residents of both Girdwood and Anchorage. Byrne received the blessing of Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich last week, which was a crucial vote of confidence since Alyeska manages the Anchorage Municipal Golf Course with the city.

Girdwood, a small town about 35 miles southeast of Anchorage in the Chugach Mountains, is home to about 1,000 residents year-round, many of whom depend on the resort for work. The town and its mountain are surrounded by seven glaciers and sits at 250 feet elevation near Turnagain Arm, a beluga whale sanctuary fed by the Pacific Ocean and Prince William Sound. While Girdwood was originally founded as a gold mining site between Cook Inlet and Prince William Sound in the Chugach Mountains, since the 1960s it has been known as the premier ski resort destination in Alaska.

The first chair lift and day lodge were built on Mount Alyeska, which stands at 3,939 feet elevation, in 1959 by a Frenchman. Alaska Airlines bought the resort in 1967 and managed it until 1980, when Japanese real estate developer Seibu Corp. bought it. Seibu owns many luxury resorts, including the Prince Hotel chain, of which Alyeska has operated under for the last 26 years. Seibu invested approximately $230 million into the resort since buying it and built the luxury, 304-room Hotel Alyeska, aerial tramway and also developed several extensive trail systems surrounding the mountain.

In the announcement, Byrne promised to upgrade existing portions of the resort and also to develop more family-friendly ski runs and bunny slopes. He also said he intends to maintain the resort's four-star rating by developing kid-friendly resources for families wishing to visit the resort from around the state and country.

Byrne, who lives in Utah, has been staying at the resort for the last three weeks observing staff and working with outgoing Alyeska Resort CEO Chris von Imhof, who has managed it since the late 1960s and has played an integral role in each successive purchase of the resort. Byrne himself is an avid skier, which von Imhof said helped him win the bid over other prospective developers. Von Imhof said he will stay on in an advisory role with the resort but will not hold an official position.

According to Byrne, none of the 450 staff members of the resort will be affected by the buyout, but he did say to expect renovations to the day lodge and more artificial snow making immediately.