A bankruptcy judge next week is expected to finalize approval of the sale of Snö Mountain for more than $5 million to an investment group.
Judge Jean FitzSimon scheduled a hearing Tuesday in Philadelphia to place Montage Mountain Resorts LP into a position to acquire the 440-acre Scranton skiing and water park facility, possibly within weeks.
"For the continued operation of the mountain, this is good news," said trustee Gary Seitz, the court-appointed overseer of operations at Snö Mountain.
Mr. Seitz filed court papers on Tuesday seeking to clear the way for Montage Mountain Resorts to acquire the property.
The Montage group, headed by Montgomery County businessman Charles Jefferson, already has scheduled a job fair to hire workers and hopes to open Snö Cove water park on Memorial Day weekend.
"We want to wrap this thing up by the end of the month," said Mr. Jefferson, whose group spent millions in recent years converting the Connell and the Scranton Chamber of Commerce buildings into residential and commercial complexes. "We wouldn't be doing a full-court press without the water park opening in six weeks."
The complex's future looked uncertain before Mr. Jefferson surfaced two weeks ago as an investor in Montage Mountain Resorts and declared the group had an agreement to buy the complex and would restore its original name, Montage.
At an auction in February, a unit of Berks county-based National Penn Bank bid $4.6 million to take over Snö Mountain. The facility's owners owed National Penn more than $8.2 million on two mortgages before the complex filed for Chapter 11 court protection in October, court papers show.
The new ownership group has had access to the property since reaching a sales agreement several weeks ago.
"They have the right to essentially get the place ready for the water park season," Mr. Seitz said.
"The soon-to-be owners are covering most of the costs of the operations," Mr. Jefferson said. "We still have some snow up there that we pray melts this week."
The Montage group will host a job fair from 10 a.m. to noon April 20 at Johnny Rockets, a restaurant along Radcliffe Drive near the Shoppes at Montage in Moosic.
The facility will hire about 150 people in full- and part-time positions, including lifeguards, marketing representatives, ticket and sales clerks and customer-service employees, said Jessica Kalinoski, local property manager for Mr. Jefferson's group.
Two weeks ago, Mr. Jefferson said the Montage group planned to spend about $8 million on the complex, including the purchase price and investments.
A sales agreement filed in court documents indicates the sale price will be $5.12 million, with a potential payout of $675,000 to National Penn five years from the purchase date based on the complex's business performance. The transaction does not include the facility's liquor license, which Mr. Seitz will sell as part of the disposal of the estate.
"This is pretty consensual among the key players," Mr. Seitz said. "I doubt there will be any objections to it."
A closing date could be set at early at April 29, but Mr. Seitz said it may be delayed until May 10.
"This means it's not going to go to a shuttered real estate sale, which is how the bank was looking at it," he said.
The accelerated pace of transition is good news for the recreation site and the region, said Austin Burke, president of the Greater Scranton Chamber of Commerce.
"Rescuing Montage and operating it as (an ongoing business) preserve great value for the purchasers and the community," he said.
Contact the writer: jhaggerty@timesshamrock.com