WATERFORD, NB – Construction started Thursday on a new ski lodge at Poley Mountain ski resort just outside of Sussex.
Poley’s old ski lodge burned down on Dec. 9, 2014, just before the start of the ski season, forcing them to make do with a series of trailers this winter.
The new ski lodge will be 50 per cent bigger than the old one, coming in at 26,000 sq feet instead of 17,000 sq feet, which will allow them to house all their services under the same roof.
“Everybody has been looking forward to it,” Poley Mountain general manager Bill Anderson told Global News. “We got through the winter and this is a new ere of Poley Mountain.”
The new building has two stories of south-facing windows. Anderson joked that they will have to hire a full-time window cleaner for the new building.
Among the services on the first floor are the cafeteria, lounge and administrative offices. The basement will house the rental shop, ski patrol and ski school along with 175 lockers and 800 equipment cubbies. The new building will also be wheelchair accessible.
Construction started just after 11:30 a.m., and crews started by cleaning out the remnants of the trailers, as well as tearing out the foundation of the old ski lodge.
“Couple of days, we should have the old foundation out,” said Ryan Steele, the site superintendent for Bird Construction. “We plan on starting footings next week for the new one.”
Steele said this type of construction project would normally take much longer to build, but crews will be working longer hours and more days to get the work done quickly.
“Normally it would be roughly 18 months,” he said, “We’re trying to get it done in a little over seven months.”
If all goes according to plan, the new lodge will be open for the start of the next ski season in December.
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