Simply, because in the United States and worldwide operate already several Westmoreland Resorts, among them a winter sports resort in Pennsylvania. We did not realize that during the name giving considerations, but we see the need to be distinctive today. "Canton Wintersports Center" is unique, though, it might not be the final name either. With our anticipated visitor's figures, and national and international competitions onsite, we will be posed to ask for valuable sponsorships, and may sell naming and marketing rights.

"Westmoreland Resorts" as our working title derived from the name of Mr. Stephen C. Westmoreland, whose family used to own the land at Chestnut Mountain. He was, as a member of Canton Motorsports LLC (the owner of the land today), one of the founding partners in CWC LLC.

The developer team of CWC LLC wants to take the opportunity and to thank Mr. Westmoreland. Without his unremitting efforts, patience, commitment, and his trust in the potential of this project, we would not stand where we are.

Unfortunately, Mr. Westmoreland, now for some years in retirement age, does not serve anymore at the Executive Board of CWC LLC. However, he serves our company still with his exceptional experiences as a soldier and an entrepreneur in his positions at the Steering Committee and at the Supervisory Board.

How did come to such an idea?

This resort was a dream of the head of our development team since his 18th year of age. In that time (35 years ago) happened a series of winters without snow at the hills of his homeland; and as he retired to higher altitudes, he found soon that he cannot go for skiing there without a lengthy period of acclimatization. How could he do that on a weekend or on a 6-days trip? This resort is the only solution for the problem.

Is financing in place?

We prepared a financing as usual in the development and construction industries. Our competitive advantage is, that in the winter sports related real estate market the demand is significantly above the supply; demand growing, supply declining. Furthermore, the condominium apartment market in the Asheville MSA knows already $400 per square foot. Other upscale winter sports resorts sell the square foot in pre-construction times for $1050. The impacts on our pricing and construction financing are obvious. After pre-sales of 50% of the condominium apartments we will apply for a commercial construction loan. Some offers for Condominium at Holland View are already on the table.

The project owns the land, free and clear. The first subdivision, Condominium at Holland View, will generate enough equity to finance the condominium itself and the lower part of the West Ridge Slope. We expect to launch sales for the next subdivision (Condominium at West Ridge) by mid of February 2008. This will finance the condominium itself and the upper part of the West Ridge Slope.

Furthermore, we will sell 150 prestigious vacant lots, which will create a solid and comfortable equity situation for CWC LLC.

The way shown will finance the whole project, subdivision by subdivision, and phase by phase.

Do you have the approvals?

The approvals for the first subdivisions including the West Ridge Slope, and the Condominiums at Holland View, in Chestnut Cove, at West Ridge, and at East Branch are under way (Planning Board contact is Mr. Kris Boyd. 828-452-6632). Later subdivisions would need approvals of the Army Corps of Engineers to alter surface streams. The approvals are usually granted. Sewage, water and power are on site, 50 yards from the Condominium at Holland View.
The main four lanes access bridge is ready to use.

Your plans are very ambitious; however, your company looks like a start-up. How will you run such a task?

Project delivery is nothing about adventure, nothing about appearance, and not very much about invention. 5% genius and 95% sweat, though, inventions are adamant. Without invention no project, but remember well, 95% of sweat.

Project delivery is about administration, clear and transparent structures, properly written requirement catalogues, dividing of budgeting and purchasing; and installation of quality and budget controls with critical documentation of the results, open for information to all, no matter who actually did the work, and no matter of his/her position in the hierarchy. Critics in matters of the project is always welcome, and critics on team members is critics in matters of the project, or there is no critics. And it is about honesty of the team members, to each other, and to everybody outside. The task is above the team, and the team is above its members.
That does not come on its own. You have to establish a Steering Committee and a Core Management team with clearly divided abilities, responsibilities, duties, and controls.

There are three future team members waiting for this news in the U.S., four in Canada, two in Switzerland, and three in Germany, all with proven track record, all with experiences to work through such a task, and some of them made their first steps with our CEO in a wide range of projects in Switzerland, Italy, France, Germany, and Canada. They will join us as soon as they are released from their duties in foregoing contracts. Please refer to our job opportunities.

We collected our experiences. Some of us learned it the hard way. We did our homework, and we are ready for this task. Please refer to the Investor Relations.

How much will it cost? When will it open for operation?

Phase One, Partition I is the western part of the property with winter sports operations on the West Ridge Slope, the adjacent condominiums, and some very private residential lots in the bordering subdivisions. It will cost $700,000,000 and will operate late in 2009.

Phase One, Partition II is the central part of the property including golf and golf related subdivisions, and winter sports extensions on Happy Hollow Slope, Steep Slope, and Moguls, together with adjacent condominiums. It will cost $800,000,000, and will operate early in 2010.

Phase Two consists of the east upscale retail and tourism areas around Canton Lake, and the Mountain Lodge Complex. It will cost in the $700,000,000 range. The Mountain Lodge Complex we will develop parallel with Partition One in Phase One, and the amenities around Canton Lake we will develop parallel with the second partition of Phase One. We will operate Phase Two in 2010.

Phase Three is the Wintersports Stadium. It will cost $1,200,000,000, and we will develop it as soon as the landfill for Canton Lake is in place. We plan Grand Opening in 2011.

We estimate the total project costs in the $3,400,000,000 range.

Who will build it?

CWC LLC contracted Whiting-Turner as the Construction Manager. Whiting-Turner has a bonding capacity above $4,000,000,000.

We are working with Whiting-Turner already one year. Some of the information we provide here is derived from this preparation, mainly construction feasibility, timing, and cost estimations. The development team thanks especially Keith Douglas, Dan Niccolucci, and Chip Lambertson.

For special parts of the project, such as the Submarine Mall, the cross country tunnel, automated parking etc., Whiting-Turner will subcontract enterprises with the experiences required.

What about pricing; residential, recreational, and commercial?

Our experts estimate an average market price of $1,500 per square foot in condos with direct access to the slope, which is conservative compared with the newest developments in Colorado ($2,500 per square foot in Vail; $2,000 in Breckenridge). Condos with both, direct access to the slope, and direct access to the golf course, will be sold above this price.

Last season, an empty lot 60’ by 100’ was sold in Aspen CO for $3,500,000; $583 per square foot. Our experts calculated a market price between $58 up to $90 per square foot, depending on the location and its views, the distance from the slopes or from the golf course, and from the tourism attractions and the malls.

The price of $1,500 per square foot was paid for slope-side condominiums in the Catskill Mountains NY. The Catskill locations allow for 4 months of skiing and 6 months of golfing per year. Our seasons will be 12 months for winter sports, and 11 months for golfing (January only would not allow for golfing). We took the impact of the sub prime crisis and its consequences under consideration, and launch pre-construction prices significantly below that range. For details, please refer to the price tables of the subdivisions.

What admission fees do you anticipate?

The average ticket prices in the winter sports area are calculated at $78 for a day pass; and $29 for an average sightseeing ticket. Single adults will pay more. We will give rebates, bonuses and advantages for children, families with two and more children, seniors, active duty soldiers and their families, snowboard and ski professionals visiting us more than 100 days a year, and students coming in groups.

We expect the average daily visitor’s expenses including travel, accommodation, and food, in the $290 range. Many young people will not be able to afford these prices. To compensate that we will develop a bartering program. We will make it available to the public works departments, universities, colleges, or schools, or any other employer who would want to participate. CWC LLC plans 50 to 60 of daily workforce for its own needs to be included into the bartering program.

A VIP membership in the golf and winter sports communities will come with parking privileges, club memberships in winter sports and golf clubs, and access easements. We hope to sell VIP memberships between $80,000 and $150,000 per year, depending on parking and guest allowances provided.

The commercial part of the property will sell in the price range of the residential components; however, we intend to develop a lease concept attracting artists, and upscale boutique and special retailers. Some commercial properties will sell considerable higher, especially along Canal d'Alsace, and in the Submarine and Beach Malls, where virtually every visitor will pass by.

What Condo Fees do you anticipate?

CWC LLC expects as maintenance costs 3% of the new construction costs, to be levied on the condominium apartment owners according to the footplate their unit would occupy.

Utility costs will not be a part of the condo fees; instead, every condominium apartment will receive its own metering units (water, natural gas, power) to be monitored in the condominium apartment by the owner, and via LAN to the utility center of CWC LLC (user pays principle).

Who developed the master plans?

A team under guidance of our principal partners, together with Canadian and European consultants with hands-on experience in operating snow domes; architects, civil and process engineers. The main parts of the plans came from our partners in Canada, where we will accomplish the basic design. For more details, please refer to the page "Job Opportunities".

How large is the property?

The property covers 435 acres, with a potential to buy adjacent land with 1,000 acres.

Our cold area will be a little larger than 89 acres (3,900,000 square feet). That includes the Wintersports Stadium, Phase Three. This winter sports area will be as large as the slopes in a midsize natural resort, or nearly four times as large as the proposed snow dome in Atlanta GA.

Today, there are some snow domes fighting for the title of being the largest in the world, among them the Dubai facility (www.skidubai.com), with 250,000 square feet probably the largest cold area in the world; and the Alpincenter Bottrop Germany (www.alpincenter.com), with 2060 feet probably the longest indoor run in the world. Some projects in pre-financing status advertise larger cold areas; however, the Canton Wintersports Center will feature about 16 times the largest existing snow dome.

The 9-holes executive golf course will cover 60 acres. That does not include the upper clubhouse Golf Terrace with 1.5 acres, and the lower one with 0.5 acres. The golf maintenance areas will be located below the Golf Terrace and underground in a covered ravine. Furthermore, the golf course shall be extended to 18 holes by land purchases soon.

What about the water supply?

The golf course will be Canton Wintersports Center’s biofiltration plant, as a part of our water regeneration plant, which will include a rotating filter system and a UV-process as well. It will be placed underground in a covered ravine in front of the Wintersports Stadium on 3 acres. This plant will serve all of the Canton Wintersports Center. Green cuts, and contaminated run-offs from the greens, such as with fertilizers and pesticides, will be recycled and reused onsite, avoiding pollution of surrounding areas or publicly accessible surface waters.

Town water will be used as a back-up only. In terms of water supply and sewage, the Canton Wintersports Center will be sustainable. Only the subdivisions below altitude 2770 feet will connect directly to public systems (Holland View, West Hills, and lower Rutherford Trace).

How much energy will you consume? Is it not anachronistic to waste a lot of energy for some fun on the slopes?

We will operate onsite three tri-generation plants, together producing 30MW in two turbines each. The turbines will be fuelled with natural gas, which will empower the onsite power grid as well. Our energy efficiency will be above 90%. Compare to 62% in a brand new natural gas empowered plant. Furthermore, we will implement the newest energy saving technologies in all project phases.

On the other side, just calculate a true energy balance for conventional winter sports resorts, which would include individual travels to far distance locations, snow making equipment under natural conditions and weather that could change next morning, providing light for night skiing, and equipments to provide for a liveable area at altitudes above 6,000 feet. All that could be used maximum the darker half of the year.
We calculated that: Our pro forma balance is "greener".

Later we will use our carbon dioxide emissions, and run-offs from the greens, to feed energy plants on farmland offsite, empowering our onsite fermentation plants below the Wintersports Stadium and the golf course producing methane and hydrogen.

Our fleets, delivery, shuttle and snow grooming, will run on fuel cell technology with hydrogen produced onsite. Furthermore, we plan a joint venture for a back-up system with liquefied/gasified West Virginia coal.
We will set up an example of high-tech sustainability and plan to use public systems as a back-up only.

How will you provide for the cold?

Tri-generation means the combined production of electricity, heating and cooling; or the connection of cogeneration units with absorption cooling units. On this way, we will use every part of energy produced by burning gas: Heat, and dynamical powers. The heat, in the summer time normally wasted, will produce cold in absorption cooling units. The dynamical powers, used to drive turbines, will not run on their capacity limits in summer times either, but this overflow of electricity will produce cold in conventional plants. Our task will be to balance all powers produced.

(Picture courtesy of Tedom s.r.o., Czech Republic)

How will you control the air moisture in the snow domes?

Parts of the inside atmosphere will be liquefied continuously, freezing out water and carbon dioxide in special noise reducing entities. The regenerated extreme dry oxygen and nitrogen gas will be re-supplied to the snow domes and lower overall air moisture, and carbon dioxide contents. Theoretically, we will reach below 70% air moisture one hour after a snowing and snow grooming action. That will warrant very appealing snow conditions with snow weights below 200 pounds per square yard (average in snow domes today: 600 pounds per square yard).

How will you insulate such a huge area?

We will employ three layers of a 1/120 of an inch thick ETFE-foil, with air layers in between up to 20 feet thick. The foil reflects infra red light (heat radiation), is 90% transparent for visible and ultra violet light, and does not alter with age. That will provide for a daylight dimmed to 70% intensity inside. Our visitors will have to protect their eyes and skin against ultra violet light on sunny days.

The sources of warmth in the snow domes will be our visitors, about 40 Watts each; and necessary leakages such as entry doors. Only the lowest air layer with 30 feet to 45 feet thickness will be cold. We will empower our snow grooming vehicles with fuel cell technology and very low heat radiation.

The roof technology was similarly employed for the first time in the Allianz Arena in Munich, Germany.

How will you light such a huge area?

We will use daylight which will make our facility much more efficient than any other snow dome, and we will place fluorescent lights between the first and second ETFE layers, similar as shown in the Allianz Arena Munich. These lights will combine several colors, enabling us to create light show events with fluorescence pictures in the roof, to be enjoyed by the athletes, visitors, travellers on I-40, and aircraft travellers; however, on normal days we will employ the white lights only, as used in other winter sports resorts.

Do you fear becoming a target of terrorist attacks?

No. There are some snow domes already operating in the Near East, which would provide for much easier targets for terrorists; and we will have regional air traffic only.

Last but not least: Snow does not burn and the roof is made of fire retardant material. The foil belongs to the Teflon^® family as used in the heat shields of spacecraft.

What will be the sportive challenges?

We will provide for advanced Alpine challenges in skiing and snowboarding with four half- and two super pipes; two free-ride terrains with jumps and rails, and one free-style jump allowing for jumps 50 feet high. For professionals, we will have 700 feet of moguls with gradients between 90% and 36%, and a steep slope of 750 feet with gradients between 90% and 30%. We will have one rink for hockey and figure skating, slalom, giant slalom, bobsleigh, luge, and a cross country trail, all in Olympic-size. We will build at 300 feet height, the world’s tallest artificial ice climbing wall.

The family sports slopes will feature on average a 22% gradient with a beginner’s area 600 feet long and a gradient of 16%.

The golf course will have two par five, three par four, and four par three holes in a very challenging environment; however, the golf course design is not ready as yet (January 2008).

What will be the capacity of the Canton Wintersports Center?

In the winter sports area, we expect to serve up to 25,000 athletes per weekend day. With a nation’s average of three hours of winter sports per day, we will warrant three runs per hour for every athlete. The “normal” athlete would not make more than 10 runs per sporting day; however, athletes would need five lift and rack railroad travels to hit all slopes. Two complete turns in three or four hours could make an average sporting day. With a distribution of the main traffic between 10 am and 6 pm, we expect an average of 8,000 athletes on the slopes and in the transportation system.

For the professionals we will provide the moguls, the steep slope and the super pipes with their own lift system, enabling them to use the amenities as much as they want, even going above their physical limitations.

Onsite, including sightseers and residents, we calculated an average of 30,000; up to 75,000 visitors per weekend day with a special event.

How do you expect to attract such a crowd?

The calculations regarding the winter sports athletes are based on European experiences and research of trusted American organizations and associations, lowered in relation to the winter sports population in the Mid Atlantic and South Atlantic census divisions of the U.S. As a tourist attraction, we considered how many rainy and foggy days per season month are happening in the Great Smoky Mountains, and what would an overnight tourist do on such a day.

Our offer will be unique, and is reachable by 30,000,000 of population in 6 hours of driving, and 36,000,000 visitors and guests in surrounding market areas within 2.5 hours of driving time. Taking out the double counts, there are still estimated 20,000,000 visitors and guests per year in the market area. We expect a “curiosity effect”, drawing minimum 20% of that in the first year, which would translate to 10,000,000 visitors per year or more than 50,000 visitors on an average weekend day. Other new attractions drew in half of the regional population in the first year.

Repeating visits depend on the appeal and the quality of the offer. We calculated 2.5 million visitors yearly after the curiosity effect. About half of that potential would come from onsite residents. Furthermore, in our target area live just above 1,000,000 of winter sports athletes. We would be already fine if every one of them would pay one visit per year.

Last but not least, we welcome the Atlanta GA snow dome project, which will have in the long run a positive influence on our visitors’ attendance. The Atlanta snow dome would provide the population and especially the youth in a high population density market with exercise opportunities. Our facility will support youth’s visits without parental guidance very limited only, because of our location. The Atlanta snow dome will fill that gap.

What yearly revenue do you anticipate?

Revenue calculations are of less significance, since the facilities will be paid off at grand opening day of each phase; however, we will generate enough revenue to pay for the day-to-day operations and to provide for considerable profits for the owners and the operators. Anticipating the admission fees indicated above; 3,000 VIP memberships; and the estimation for sold tickets, we expect revenues in the $200,000,000 range. This figure does not include income from leasing operations, and golf-related operations.

Do you plan special events and competitions?

Since the first phase will operate rather like a country club, we do not plan special events in that area, except for national and international competitions later. However, we plan numerous special events at the tourism locations of Phases Two and Three.

Don’t you think the resort could be overcrowded with tourists?

The Canton Wintersports Center is filed as a planned community with covenants in order to keep the noise and other emissions very low, and provide for restrictions in use and overall density. The mass tourism amenities around Canton Lake and in the Wintersports Stadium will be well divided from the residential areas and the clubs.

How will you organize the access to the resort and its amenities?

The four main access roads will be supervised. Three of them with four lanes each, will serve the winter sports athletes and tourists. One with two lanes, will serve the golf community at Rutherford Trace. These access roads will connect to Asheville Highway (fourth and fifth lanes under construction, plus a private two-lanes service road along the property) and Interstate 40 with an exit 2.5 miles away.

Two private access roads onsite with two lanes each will serve the most upscale parts of the property. They will connect to Turnpike Road at Windy Gap and Burnett’s Cove, which is a Canton neighbourhood. The property has natural borderlines, mainly Hominy Creek, and the Chestnut Mountain Ridge.

The public sports and tourism facilities will have a supervised and automated access system, showing on billboards in the entry buildings and on tourism attraction points the actual waiting time at all other attractions. This will help to avoid the overcrowding of particular attractions and will keep the residential communities very private. Furthermore, we will limit the issuance of day tickets to true capacity, which will be shown on billboards outside of our area. These conditions will result in an increase of traffic in the Town of Canton.

The golf community features onsite two private two-lane streets. Nearly inaccessible steep slopes and retaining walls surround the golf course respectively, protecting the adjoining properties from flying golf balls.

How many real estate units do you intend to construct?

We will not be able to cover the demand, which we estimate at 30,000 potential buyers for our residential winter sports properties (3% of the regional winter sports population), and about the same figure in the golf sports community, which would include buyers out of Corporate America as well.

According to our pricing strategy and the financing needs of construction, we plan, in a short pre-development phase, sales of 164 condominium apartments. Whiting-Turner would need two or three months anyway to concentrate enough workforce onsite and start construction in several independent locations.

The sales in Phase One will total in all 150 vacant lots and 2436 condominium apartments, together with 79 commercial properties. Phase Two will add 567 condominium apartments and 227 commercial properties; Phase Three will supply a maximum of 692 condominium apartments and 314 commercial properties.

The master plan calculation shows the capacity of the Canton Wintersports Center at 3695 condominium apartments, 150 vacant lots, and 620 commercial properties beside the future operations of CWC LLC. That would count for an average onsite population between 5,000 and 5,500.
Considering the attraction force and uniqueness of our offer, we hope to be sold out in five years.

Do you intend to create a new political entity?

No. The Town of Canton has sufficient public services, workforce, and infrastructures to cover our needs, and is flexible enough to react on changes timely. The same applies to the County of Haywood. We will probably incorporate the Canton Wintersports Center as a Canton community with some extra powers covering our special needs. We do not expect anybody to raise children in the resort, and we do not expect to be an especially appealing location for people in retirement age.

In two years from now, Canton Wintersports Center LLC will be the prominent taxpayer in Haywood County. That would give us the weight we need to maintain our qualities and to protect the property values of our clients.

No matter what, Canton Wintersports Center will be a winter sports (and golf) resort, with steep slopes, lots of stairs, and special needs for security and medical services.

Do you intend to develop this type of resort and tourism destination anywhere else?

We want to protect the property values of our clients and keep the exclusivity of the resorts. So, we would like to develop extensions on adjacent land; however, we could imagine to adapt the Wintersports Stadium as an inner-city brown field development.

But whatever we intend to do, nobody has an insurance against imitation. Our only protection are the legal requirements in other locations, and the complexity of our task, which would make an imitation difficult and its preparation very costly.

What about job creation?

Phase One, CWC LLC operations and commercial developments both, will create about 1,750 jobs.
Commercial venues in Phases Two and Three will add to 620 businesses, which could create another 2,400 jobs.
Phase Three, the Wintersports Stadium, will employ 2,100 people.
In total, the Canton Wintersports Center will generate about 6,250 jobs.

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