Sugarloaf buys Kingfield's storied Herbert Grand Hotel, will use it for workforce housing

File photo The Herbert Grand Hotel, completed in 1918, is on the National Register of Historic Places.

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By Jessica Hall

Sugarloaf ski resort has purchased the Herbert Grand Hotel in Kingfield to help expand housing options for employees, who have been squeezed by a costly, short-supplied market of homes near the Carrabassett Valley mountain.

The hotel features 26 guest rooms, communal areas and a small restaurant. Sugarloaf entered into a purchase and sale agreement on the property in February 2022, and closed on the sale April 11. Terms were not disclosed.

The hotel, at 246 Main St., sold in 2020 to Shawn and Daniel Donovan for $695,000. Known as "the Ritz of the Woods" when it opened in 1918, the Herbert Grand is 15 miles from Sugarloaf.

The establishment “was once a gathering spot for Prohibition-era Maine politicians to indulge in bathtub gin and unsavory women,” according to the hotel's website at the time of the 2020 deal. “Some of these guests never left and are rumored to haunt the hotel to this day.”

Sugarloaf expects the hotel to provide housing opportunities for as many as 40 seasonal staff over the course of the winter operating season.

Sugarloaf said it had about 700 to 750 employees this winter season, down somewhat from a normal year due in part to housing constraints.

“The Herbert is a beautiful building with a storied past, and we’re excited to be stewards of this historically significant property,” Sugarloaf General Manager Karl Strand said. “Housing for seasonal staff has become a critical need for our community, and this investment is an important step in meeting that need. We’re continuing to work with our community partners on additional solutions to meet the long-term housing needs of the community.”

Following the completion of the purchase, the Herbert will be closed during summer 2022 for upgrades to guest rooms and other areas, before reopening in the fall.

Separately, Sugarloaf said it will install a new T-bar for race training and competitions, will invest in substantial snowmaking upgrades to increase capacity by 75%, and will begin work on its West Mountain development later this year or in early 2023.

“All of these projects address important need areas for Sugarloaf and our community,” Strand said. “We are eager to get started and excited about the direction we’re headed in.”

Sugarloaf and Carrabassett Valley Academy are partnering to install a new, high-speed surface lift or T-bar between the Competition Hill and Narrow Gauge trails, which will service alpine racers during training and competitions.

The new lift will be 1,200 feet in length and rise 380 vertical feet, beginning just above Peavey Crosscut. The installation of the new lift will be coupled with trail widening on Competition Hill and snowmaking upgrades that will include fully automated snow guns.

“Competitive ski racing is part of our DNA at Sugarloaf, and this project will only further Sugarloaf’s standing as the premier alpine ski racing destination in the East,” Strand said. “We are grateful for our partnership with CVA, which makes this project possible.”

Sugarloaf’s snowmaking system also will see upgrades again this summer, with the construction of a new booster pump house on West Mountain, as well as the addition of new high-efficiency snow guns.

The new booster pump house will be located near Bullwinkle’s restaurant on West Mountain, and will increase water pressure to snow guns across the mountain. The new pump house, combined with the addition of 107 new high-efficiency snow guns, will increase the number of guns the resort can run simultaneously under optimal conditions from roughly 130 to nearly 230.

Meanwhile, work will continue this summer on Sugarloaf’s West Mountain Expansion, which will see the development of roughly 450 acres with a new lift, new alpine trails with snowmaking, and roughly 200 new slope-side, ski-in/ski-out residences.

The project is currently in the permitting phase, with initial construction expected to begin in late 2022 or early 2023.