Humber Valley Resort chalet owners take important first steps towards recovery

Wester Star article:

When he bought into the Humber Valley Resort dream back in 2003, Simon Burch never envisioned he would be organizing contracts to provide essential services to the site nearly six years later.

Despite some nightmarish developments in the last year or so, the dream is still alive for Burch and the other chalet owners at the resort who are doing their part to shake the facility out of the doldrums.

In the past few days, service contracts to provide snow clearing and garbage collection at the resort have been confirmed. A flyer, similar to the trucks used to clear the province’s highways, and a front-end loader will handle snow clearing, sanding and ice removal.

Dumpsters will be place on-site for resort owners and users to deposit garbage for regular collection.

Security at the resort, which went into bankruptcy Dec. 5, is in place 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

The provision of water and street lighting is being handled by Ernst and Young, the trustee in bankruptcy.

In addition to those essential services being made available, a number of companies are working on behalf of chalet owners to market properties available for rent. Some chalet owners have opted to take it upon themselves to market their chalets on their own.

With all that in place, Burch — a member of the committee representing 300 chalet owners — said the resort is once again a going concern.

“All the essential services for people wanting to come stay on the resort are now available,” said Burch as he drove past a snowplow clearing one of the resort’s thoroughfares.

“People can safely book a holiday here now, secure in the knowledge they will be able to get in and out of their chalets and arrangements are in place for rubbish and water.

“What they won’t have for this winter is a bar and restaurant. What will happen with those facilities will only become clear as the process of bankruptcy moves forward.”

That’s a big step forward from this past fall when Newfound NV, the owners and majority shareholders in the Humber Valley Resort Corporation, shut the operation down as it filed for creditor protection and tried to restructure the resort’s business plan. Those efforts failed and the corporation went bankrupt earlier this month.

The key attractions of the Humber Valley, said Burch, still are the scenery and the local people. The recent history of the resort generated a lot of bad publicity for it and the Humber Valley region in general, not to mention create bad blood between those who have invested in chalets and the resort management.

Burch will be marketing his own chalet and three others, but didn’t want to do so until essential services were in place.

“There’s nothing worse than letting people down and that’s what the resort did before it went bust,” he said. “They didn’t bother to tell some of the people who had booked that they were closed. For weeks after, people were turning up at the gate, expecting to come in and stay and were being turned away. That was good for local hoteliers, but terrible for the trading reputation of Humber Valley.”

Burch, who will concentrate on marketing to the St. John’s area, expects new marketing efforts from all the owners will ramp up soon.

‘Good future’
“This resort still has a very good future,” said Burch. “All the key building blocks that encouraged us to buy here are still here. What we have is a company that did a terrific job of realizing a vision and building a resort, but a lousy job of running it, that has now gone bust.

“That is a new opportunity for the owners to create, in conjunction with government and all the other local stakeholders in our economy, a structure for the resort that will work going forward, so that, over a period of time, we can realize the vision we all bought into without all the wastefulness and mismanagement that’s plagued the place for the last four or five years.”

Don Cross drives one of the machines owned by NCL Holdings, the Deer Lake company hired to do the snow-clearing duties. He too is confident the resort will bounce back.

“It’s good to see people coming back here who are going to spend time on the west coast,” he said. “The economics of it all still makes good sense for this area.

“It’s too bad so many jobs have been lost, but that’s the way it goes sometimes. I definitely think it’s going to rebound. There are too many homes and chalets here to let it go now. There’s no way everybody is going away.”

While the resort owners feel they have gotten over an important hurdle towards recovery, Burch said they only have a short while to catch their breath before going abut the task of revising how the resort will operate into the future.

The next major step will come Jan. 7 when Ernst and Young will meet with Humber Valley Resort’s hundreds of creditors, including chalet owners and Newfound NV — the latter which invested more than $44 million into the resort. According to documents obtained by Transcontinental Media, some 279 creditors are owed more than $100 million.

Not welcome
There has been some talk that Newfound NV could be in a position to actually buy the back the resort as part of the bankruptcy process.

Burch said Newfound NV is not wanted back.

“That would be a travesty,” said Burch. “They have walked away from their commitments to the owners, from their debts to the local businesses and from community and they haven’t demonstrated any commitment to the resort, to the island or to making a success of this place.

“Jane McGivern (Newfound NV’s chief executive officer) is on record in interviews published in property press in Europe that she’s not interested in running a resort — that she’s a property developer. My message would be to go develop your properties and leave us to get on with finding a way to make this resort work without your interference and getting in the way.”

Burch said repairing the resort’s damaged reputation will be the goal of the owners, though he has no idea how that will be done or how long it will take.

“This isn’t the end,” he said. “This is a new beginning. It’s an opportunity for competent management to be brought in and do the job properly and that will make an enormous difference.”

Western Star article Gary Kean

Western Star review of Wanderlust article
One of the world’s premiere travel magazines has featured Newfoundland and Labrador in a special anniversary edition. Wanderlust, a leading United Kingdom travel magazine, issued a “100 Greatest Travel Secrets” for its 100th issue and 15th anniversary celebration.

While Sarah Baxter, the magazine’s deputy editor, said the 100 secrets were not ranked, Newfoundland and Labrador certainly deserves being one of the “larger secrets” as the first destination revealed in the issue.

It was geography and attractiveness that led to the province being featured, says the editor.
“The reason we short-listed Newfoundland is because most people in the U.K. fly straight over it,” Baxter told The Western Star. “Tempted by the west coast or maybe Toronto, Newfoundland gets completely overlooked by most Brits and yet it offers all of that wonderful Canadian wilderness — and then some. There aren’t many places where you can simultaneously whale and iceberg watch, without paying hefty prices for a polar cruise. All of this, and not much jet lag.”

She also feels Newfoundland has the authenticity the magazine’s readers crave.
“Fishing is still big business, people don’t lock their doors and are genuinely warm and friendly,” she said. “Reading (William Gray’s) piece, you can almost smell the salty air.”

Gray, an award-winning travel writer and photographer, told The Star he came to Newfoundland to see icebergs. The first-time visitor to the island travelled from Deer Lake through to Gros Morne and up the Northern Peninsula to Quirpon, and back.

While it was after the iceberg season and he returned without capturing a single sighting, he was not disheartened.

The Newfoundland section is entitled “The secret life of bergs.”

It is introduced — “On a quest to spot migrating icebergs off the coast of Newfoundland, William Gray discovers Britain’s first-ever New World colony remains as alluring and enigmatic as it was four centuries ago.”

The absence of icebergs was overshadowed by the scenic beauty of the coastline and the abundance of marine and wildlife and food and hospitality. Gray said he wants to return, noting a family vacation would be ideal, and get a glimpse of the elusive icebergs.
He would like to explore the east coast too.

Meanwhile, Maria Matthews, chair of Western Destination Marketing Organization and owner of Vision Atlantic, was thrilled with the feature. She said it was long overdue.

“It just proves what we have known all along, that this destination has the potential to compete with the very best, and how ironic that we are going through this flight nightmare?” she said, referring to the efforts to secure an international flight to the area.

“That’s the biggest impact in this; this has hit the newsstands and you can’t even get to Newfoundland, let alone the west coast.”

Mike Ward, chair of the Humber Valley Resort owners committee, said the recognition portrays the opportunity that exists for Newfoundland as a tourist destination.
“People are clearly looking for a different experience than a typical beach holiday and it is great that the magazine has recognized the potential that exists,” he said.

“Newfoundland has so much to offer and a great quality of life that people return again and again in the different seasons.”

Ward also raised the question of accessibility to the island and the expense of excessive air travel that results from the loss of a direct flight from Gatwick to Deer Lake. Ward has visited the west coast at least twice a year for the last five years, and is hoping for some resolve in travel challenges.

“Gros Morne is a truly special place and tourists love to go whale watching and see the icebergs, and this is very different to holidays in Europe,” he said. “The skiing at Marble Mountain has powder which is better than anywhere in Europe and you get significantly more skiing because of the lack of lineups.

“...Snowmobiling is one of those activities you wouldn’t normally get to do, but the trails in Newfoundland offer a wonderful experience.”

Western Star review of Wanderlust article

Newfoundland iceberg spotting season

People have begun to flock to the coasts of Newfoundland and Labrador on a hunt for icebergs, according to the Canadian Tourism Commission. The stretch of water between the northern tip of Labrador and the eastern shores of the Avalon Peninsula is known as iceberg alley at this time of year, when the sea carries mountains of ice close to land.
Icebergs tens of thousands of years old, which were once part of the Greenland icecap, are buffeted by wind and tide, breaking into smaller chunks before melting in the warm waters south of Newfoundland and Labrador.
According to the International Ice Patrol, 2008 could be a highly active year for iceberg sightings. The agency has been monitoring the movement of the ice since February and has reported more than 500 icebergs moving south from Greenland, compared to only 50 last year. Newfoundland and Labrador rely on iceberg-spotting as part of their tourism industries and visitors can join organised kayak or boat tours, or can simply stand on the shoreline to watch the massive bodies of ice float by.
Story: Opodo

Brits covet a piece of The Rock

The Dobbins of Newfoundland are one of Canada's most respected business families. Craig Dobbin built CHC Helicopter Corporation into the largest helicopter company in the world, and today, most Dobbins are involved in family businesses 'off-shore'.

But Craig's nephew and former assistant, Brian Dobbin, decided to stay on "The Rock." He's busy transforming Humber Valley Resorts into one of the most successful vacation home communities on the continent. What's more, the parent enterprise of NewFound Resorts Inc., which he heads up, is a public company listed on the London Stock Exchange.

Hold on, isn't the middle of Newfoundland one of the bleakest and dreariest places on earth? Who would want to buy a holiday home there ���especially for the winter?

Brits, that's who. $280 million worth of them, which is what British vacationers have spent so far in buying homes in the Humber Valley Resort, a quick 5.5 hour flight from London, and one of the lowest-cost options for all-season second homes that modern-day Britons know. The average size of a home is an astounding 4,200 square feet on lots running from 3/4 to 1 1/2 acres. You can play golf on an 18-hole championship course, ski down an Appalachian Mountain, enjoy sweeping lake and forest vistas, spa treatments, luxury dining, and as their brochure says: "It is unimaginable how close this secret paradise is."

So, how many Canadians have bought homes in Humber Valley? ... One!

How much Canadian money did Brian Dobbin raise to develop an area that 90% of Newfoundlanders haven't been to? ... None!

Dobbin is very open and frank on this subject: "Most Canadians think Newfoundland is either rainy or foggy or boggy all year round. They're wrong. But I don't waste my time trying to change their minds. I just go somewhere else where these prejudices aren't as large. We raised our money from Europe and Taiwan, and we raised our customers from Britain."

What's the huge appeal to the British that doesn't exist with Canadians? Says Dobbin: "First, the British are incredibly sophisticated when it comes to buying homes abroad. For them, it's no more complicated than for us buying a cottage here. The difference for them is, for $150 a square foot, they can get a small condo in Spain, or they can own a palace in Humber Valley ��� and $150 a square foot is very low in the international vacation property market."

Also, "they want pristine wilderness, lots of space and a way to get to it."
Dobbin provides that way with direct twice-a-week charter flights 38 weeks a year from London's Gatwick Airport to Deer Lake Airport, a 20-minute drive to Humber Valley.

Dobbin is passionate about why the British love Newfoundland. But while he knew from the start who wouldn't want to buy there, he didn't know who would. So he and his colleagues began by hiring some high-end real estate agents in London to help sell the lots and homes that Newfound Resorts was building. It didn't work. So, "we went over to a property exhibition (a trade show where developers show off their properties), put up a booth, played some music, talked our heads off for three days, and came out with 20 sales." Clearly, Dobbins' passion and enthusiasm found a market.
Today, there's a secondary market for the original homes sold in Humber Valley, plus a new phase of property for "bespoke architect designed homes."
But the next stage of development is vacation rentals, where Newfound Resorts acts as a rental agent to people who want to rent a home for a week or two for their vacation. This, of course, makes the home-owner happy as well; it doesn't take many week's rentals to cover an entire year's mortgage costs.
Vacation rentals are growing at the rate of 35% a year according to Dobbin. Some of these renters come from Britain, of course, spurred on by the word-of-mouth from the now 400 Humber Valley home-owners.

But Dobbin has his eyes on New York as a major rental market, which is just a two-hour flight to Deer Lake. Hey, this is slightly less than from��� well, another city that's jumping on the Deer Lake bandwagon, and that now has both Air Canada and WestJet flying between: Toronto.
Article from ReportOnBusiness BOB RAMSAY Globe and Mail UpdateAugust 23, 2007 at 10:53

Course Review: Humber Valley Resort (Deer Lake, Newfoundland)

Course Review: Humber Valley Resort, River Course (Deer Lake, Newfoundland)
Designer: Doug Carrick (2006)

Located in a province few are likely to seek out for golf, Humber Valley’s River Course stands alone as the sole beacon in an area with literally no other even marginal golf courses.
Thank God Doug Carrick’s work at Humber Valley is exceptional — otherwise no one would ever talk about this place. Part of a resort complex built for wealthy Europeans as a four season facility, Humber Valley’s golf course is among the best to open in Canada in a long time. It is better than Fazio’s Coppinwood near Toronto, and better maybe than even Carrick’s Eagles Nest in Maple. It is surely better than any of Carrick or Thomas McBroom’s Muskoka work.

Why? Well part of it is an untouched setting that is unlike anything I’ve seen in this country in a long time. Set on a set of steep hills with a surrounding low mountain range, Humber Valley would appear to be a tough site. Most mountain sites are not conducive to golf, with slopes that are too severe and require blasting or significant earth moving. Carrick may have moved a lot of land here — and there are indications he did make cuts, like the clear grade change on the 16th — but largely this is the most natural of Carrick’s courses I’ve seen to date.
It all goes downhill from the start — literally. The opener is a par five, and if there’s a weakness on the course, it is the three shot holes. With the exception of the seventh, a tough uphill par five that could be mistaken for the reverse of Highlands Links’ 16th, all are relatively simple holes that play downhill enough to be approached often by a mid-iron. But after the relatively easy opener — which is not a bad thing in itself — Carrick takes the golfer through a series of holes that require thought as opposed to brawn.
In fact, driver is not the preferred club in many instances off the tee and the elevation shifts, like the one on mid-length par three second, often leave the golfer deceived when it comes to club selection. It is certainly a course that reveals itself the more one plays.
The course has expansive views and the architecture attempts to match the scale. That means prominent bunkers and fairways that offer width without becoming overkill. Greens are relatively subtle, as is the case with most of Carrick’s designs these days, but several offer something unusual for the architect — greens that move from fairway to putting surface naturally on grade. Carrick seems to love his slightly elevated greens — which surely improve drainage — but lose the natural appeal. Several of Humber Valley’s greens have a distinctly natural character, something I’ve rarely seen in Carrick’s work.

Read the full review ....