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800 Residential Units and European Spa at the Village Les Arcs, France |
VANCOUVER, July 24, 2000 - Intrawest Corporation
announced today its plans to build a signature Intrawest village in France.
Through its partnership with Compagnie des Alpes (�CDA�), the largest ski
company in the world in terms of skier visits (10.2 million in 1999/2000),
Intrawest will develop a pedestrian-only village at Les Arcs, located in
the Savoie region of France.
�We�ve been asked by a variety of groups to become involved in Europe for years, but didn�t want to jump into an arena that we didn�t know enough about,� said Gary Raymond, executive vice president. �By partnering with CDA, we entered Europe in a low risk way and allowed ourselves the time to study the markets and opportunities to determine the best first step. As we suspected when we first partnered with CDA, applying our village development expertise is the best way to start our expansion into this market.� The village at Les Arcs will total 550,000 square feet of development and will include 800 residential units, a European spa, outdoor slope-side pools, outdoor plazas and 50,000 square feet of commercial space including restaurants, cafes and retail stores. Built at an altitude of 2,000 meters at the tree line where the snow first falls, this village will be the first to open and last to close in the area and will have panoramic views of Mont Blanc, Europe�s highest mountain. Like many of the other Intrawest signature villages, The Village at Les Arcs will be planned by award-winning Eldon Beck of Beck & Associates in California in partnership with Pierre Diener of Diener Guirard & Associates in Paris, France, who is well known for his work in several mountain villages such as Val Morel and Belle Plagne. �This opportunity is one of the last, if not the last village development opportunity in France,� said Lorne Bassel, senior vice president. �Coupled with the fact that there are 58 million annual skier visits in France, more than all the mountains combined in the U.S., we feel very positive that our product will be well received.� Les Arcs, located in eastern France, receives over 1.5 million skier visits annually on 692 hectares (1,750 acres) of trails. Currently there are approximately 30,000 beds in three different locations, Les Arcs 1,600 (at 1,600 meters in altitude), Les Arcs 1,800, and Les Arcs 2,000 where the Intrawest village will represent the first attempt to gather guests in a village setting. The neighbouring mountain, La Plagne, receives more skier visits than any other mountain in the world, with over 2.5 million visits annually. In addition to Les Arcs and La Plagne, Compagnie des Alpes has controlling interest in Tignes, Meribel, Les Menuires, Le Grand Massif (Flaine, Samoens, Morillon and Sixt), Chamonix and Peisey Vallandry in France, Courmayeur in Italy and a significant investment in Verbier in Switzerland. As outlined in the agreement, Intrawest will purchase the land for the village once the company begins construction. In keeping with corporate strategy, the company plans on pre-selling the real estate before construction begins and therefore, the company will not incur a substantial capital outlay upfront. Intrawest will be placing members of their North American team in France to oversee the village development. Robert J_r_me, vice president, resort development, has been heavily involved with the development at Tremblant and will now relocate and become vice president, Europe. Construction is expected to start in the spring of 2002 and the village is expected to be complete within the next 6 to 10 years. Once in progress, the company plans on actively exploring other opportunities in Europe. The Village at Les Arcs - Fact Sheet
Intrawest Corporation, a publicly traded company (TSE: ITW; NYSE: IDR), has a proven track record in successfully developing and operating some of the world�s top-rated village-centered, four-season resort destinations such as Whistler/Blackcomb in British Columbia, the No. 1 rated mountain resort in North America. This expertise has earned Intrawest the reputation as one of the most sought-after developers in the resort industry.
Compagnie des Alpes (CDA) is a publicly traded company (Second Marche of the Paris Bourse code 5332) and the world�s largest ski operator in terms of skier visits. As the leading expert in managing large-scale mountain operations, CDA, through its subsidiaries, equips, maintains and operates some of the largest ski areas in the French and Italian Alps.
The statements which are not historical facts contained in this release are forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. |
Intrawest Corporation [email protected] http://www.intrawest.com |