We Just Bought Property Behind The Great Wall-- On The Good Side!
How Windham Mountain Club Changed Its Tactics, not Its Goals!
Caddyshack (1980).
If one reads the Daily Gazette’s article you might get the impression that the August 15th Meeting of the Windham Town Planning Board was not something very important. I was not present for the actual meeting due to a family obligation; but did get a detailed run down of the meeting from a person I trust— that description is the following: it is business as usual at the Windham Mountain Club if you ignore the fact that the Golf Course is going Private Only some time after the 2024 season is completed. That is after we have a period of renovation to be done by the world renown golf club architect Tom Fazio. These renovations are supposed be completed in 2025 (possibly early 2026 any unforeseen issues in the project occur). So the days of public golf at the Windham Mountain Country Club are rapidly coming to an end with the approach of Labor Day 2024 and the eventual start of the fall. To many people this may seem rather trivial; after all considering the fact that many country clubs are in fact private. However, in a town that is dependent on tourism this is a crushing blow to our summer appeal and those tourists in that demographic group.
The Windham Mountain Country Club is a small course with less than 6,800 yards in linear length. But that doesn’t make it a bad club. More importantly it is one of two local clubs and does represent a big chunk of Windham’s tourism appeal. The other course being Chrisman’s Windham House and Golf Club on the border with the town of Ashland. Chrisman’s Golf Course is the larger option that used to be the local’s course many years ago when Windham Country Club was private . However, Chrisman’s course was historically the cheap local course that many young windham golfers including myself cut our teeth on (again I was not much of a sports person) . However, for many years Christmans’ was the only game in town when the Windham Country club was private. That finally failed after memberships in the Windham Country Club could no longer sustain the club and first it became a private-public club and then it was finally sold to the Ski Windham (later Windham Mountain Club).
After the Covid-19 Surge occurred and Windham’s summer vacation status exploded yet again the prices for all golf skyrocketed. While this is true— it is not the real problem, which is going to be a simple issue of allocation of resources, in this case golf courses open to the public. This monopolization of the resources we call public golf courses will have a net-negative effect on the local economy of the town as we know it.
In the 1950’s through to the 1970’s Harvard economist Paul M. Sweezy pointed out continually that the greatest crisis of any economic system is the concentration of economic power in one corporation or a few corporations. [This position was first seriously discussed by Polish Economist Michal Kalecki in the 1930’s and 1940’s when he was doing work at Oxford University. ] Sweezy points out in this book Theory of Capitalist Development that the core issue for pricing in a monopolistic condition is that of the monopolist’s control of two things: raw materials and demand. In this case we have the demand for golfing which is hard to put an exact figure on for my locality but in general Golf Datatech says it’s been up 7.2% as of June 2024 from the year before in our Region. Which Golf Datatech claims the 2023 year was a banner year with an average of over 8.4% in the Mid-Atlantic Region (NYS). So, clearly the potential for demand is present. Now the question is what about natural resources in this case we are talking about Labor and physical space on the course.
The first case is that while the Windham Mountain Club has the smaller portion of the demand given that you must be a club member. The fact that Windham Mountain Club has the resources for imported workers from the Southern Hemisphere puts local labor resources at a greater disadvantage. Essentially when labor is your most important input and cannot be automated away the effects are the following: Low Paid workers in a tight employment market see a rise in pay when their inputs cannot be automated out of existence. However, when one company can draw on a resource that is much lower than his or her competition the effects are a distinct reduction in salaries for all low wage workers in the market. Don’t mistake me, I’m not advocating any type of end of immigration into the nation like Aspen did in 2003. No, I would rather see an increase in labor requirements until we meet our ecological safe limits. I’m just pointing out that there is a reason why cheap labor either on our shores or off-shore affects the lower working classes disproportionately and there is no way the Mountain Club won’t already exploit its connection to importing labor from the Southern Hemisphere in the summer as well as the winter like they do already.
The net effect of this low-wage policy by the Mountain Club will do the following by staffing its restaurants’ , grounds maintenance, and other [So-called ] low skilled positions with guest labor like they do for the Ski Slope, we will see a drop in the average pay rates. And since the Mountain Club will be able to reduce its own labor costs, its own profit margins will increase rapidly even with a reduced demand. The next important fact is that since the Mountain Club has its own Housing for Staff, anything that would be called “rent” that would be fed into the community from these guest workers is now isolated in a closed loop in the Mountain Club. But more than that the reduction in jobs in the market causes an increase in surplus labor in the market. This obviously like any surplus reduces the price of the labor in the broad local market. Which of course is the goal of any one of these firms to do. However, since one firm, the local Chrisman’s Windham House and Golf Club, lacks the ability to fully manipulate the wage market like the Windham Mountain Club does, they have to pay more to retain wage workers. Which is a positive for a while for the town. But that condition will not last long.
Just like the old Company towns built by Coal Magnets, Windham Mountain Club offers staff housing at an affordable rate to the guest workers in their employment. Thus the Windham Mountain Club can easily wrestle back their guest worker’s pay in the form of low rent. Even if a profit on the housing isn’t made directly; indirectly by offering lower salaries and low rent they are making a profit in the long run . While helping to reduce economic benefits for the town as whole by decreasing the amount of revenues being generated in the town through rent. In fact Windham Mountain Club offers to other businesses: “Rooms in the new facility will be available for employees of local businesses in the summer months.” This of course seems to equalize the playing field some. However, in reality unless you have an extensive recruitment system in the Southern Hemisphere this is not going to be the best option for your company. Instead you’ll have to just buck the trend and increase your salaries to recruit from the local working pool. Which is a good thing for the town in the short term. But, here is the big problem for the town. Even though Chrisman’s Windham House and Golf Club on paper has a great monopoly of being the only truly public golf course they run into a finite space problem. And this affects the entire town. Since the only public golf course in town is now overwhelmed with demand for tee times the resource becomes crowded and scarcity increases. Yes, normally this is a good thing for a monopoly. But, since the monopoly is only a local affair and geographically located in the small town of Windham, its power to manipulate the future of Golf in the Region is limited to say the least.
What will occur is the following. Instead of a town with two public courses essentially complimenting each other and increasing the overall number of golfers able to play each day especially on the important Weekends when most visitors are in town. The scarcity works in reverse of our intuitive notions. Meaning that instead of long lines at the one public golf course you will start to see an overall drop in summer tourism as Golfers decide to frequent locations with more golfing resources.
And this is where the big problems start to occur. The first notion is to build yet another course in town to soak up this extra demand for golf. However, since it will take years of planning and designing to create a new golf course from scratch and hundreds of millions of dollars if you want anything that approaches competition level like play with a design team from Greg Norman or Tom Fazio; sure you can do it for much less! That is if you just want to throw together a ho-hum affair that is not a statement golf course. That route will only cost you somewhere between $5 and $25 million depending on how cheaply you can secure the necessary acreage roughly 300, build your clubhouse, and greens. But, it can be done. The only question is can you build your golf course , hire staffing, and advertise faster than people can shift their preferences for regions with more resources? The answer is usually no— the town found this fact out when the Winter Ski season was found to be lacking due to the semi-private nature of the Windham Mountain Club. The same thing will happen to the summer as well now.
The first groups that will get hit the hardest are the Short Term Rentals (STR’s) and the Hotels. These are the people with the least amount of strings attached to them and their vacation locations. They might love Windham’s convenience to NYC and Northern New Jersey. However, if Windham no longer has the resources they feel are important to the overall enjoyment of the region than it is far easier to change your preference. For example Belleayre Mountain in Highmount, NY which is on NY RT28 about a 40 to 50 minute drive from the biggest city in the area Kingston, NY [NYS Thruway Exit 19]. Which is only 10 -20 minutes or so more than the drive from the NYS Thruway Exit 21 in Catskill, NY and the drive up to Windham which is approximately 30 minutes to 35 minutes depending on traffic and lights. So, the inconvenience of driving to other locations is not as terrible as it may seem. And if you cannot do what you want in Windham any more it becomes far less inconvenient. These will be the first people to really look at our amenities as a town and ask the question: does Windham still fit my needs? And if easy access to golf is an important box to check off— Windham might not be that location in the near future. That means a downturn in the summer rental season for STR’s and a slow down in the long term housing development of our most important type of homes large second homes.
In fact STR’s like AirBnB reported in August of 2024 that they were once again seeing a downturn in their earnings. Business Insider reported that this was due to an influx of people using Hotels due to AirBnB’s sudden increase in rates and fees associated with the service. Hotels with their more upfront pricing and simplicity seem to be once again wrestling away AirBnB users who feel that it isn’t cost effective.
We can learn an important lesson from these facts and that is our demand is often predicated on not only on convenience but the nature of the pricing system itself— push the fees and other costs on the customers in ways that seem dishonest and they move on. The same mechanism that is affecting AirBnb I think is very true for the way we describe our overall amenities. Once it becomes known that 50% of Windham’s golfing is private, and 50% of Windham’s skiing is only for members too, it will become a cost that people will not endure.
It is hard not to get to the feeling that our future if Wilson Kemmons Hospital Partners and their colleagues of Sandy Beall (and partners) in what can only be described as the ultimate expression of the Vertically Integrated Organization in tourism is the Club Town ( this is a Vertical Monopoly— but don’t say that out loud because it hurts Billionaire’s Feelings). As WKHP details on their very own website they create vertical integration in their properties by controlling the supply chain through their international Valor Hospital Property Management Corporation. And it is only a matter of time before they start to bring this same attitude to the creation of the Club Town they wish to superimpose on the Town of Windham itself.
Windham Mountain Club’s Proposed Private Housing Expansion.
The next phase of the decline will be the second homeowner market. The Windham Mountain Club’s private enclave expansion above outlines the true goals of this Club. A self contained micro-community where the circular flow of the cash is maintained within the confines of the club's amenities and its select subcontractors are managed. Of course our billionaire benefactor Sandy Beall and his partners Andy Foust [almost too perfect a last name for this scenario] and Doug Jacob tout the strong community ties they wish to build on with this private-public club scheme. However, if we are completely honest we must understand that the Private part of the scheme is the part they wish to become the enduring part of the community. The 66 Residences that they are initially planning to locate on the mountain for the club doesn’t sound like a large number of homes in a town with 2,400 almost. That is very true. But, it’s not the number of the homes that matters as much as who can access the mountain and its amenities over time. That is an important part of this battle. These 66 homes represent the first salvo in the battle against the secondary homeowners on the mountain itself.
As these homeowners in the new gated community not only get preferential treatment at the Mountain via the exclusive members’ only Spa, Fitness Center , Riding Stables, and Shooting Venue the reality becomes clear that a new self-contained town is being constructed within the borders of Windham itself. As Noah Leaderman of the Robb Report wrote with some sarcasm about the municipalities of the Northeast Ski towns: “The “villages” off the chairlift lack pizzazz—some even like it that way” . The idea is simple that Windham and its other similar ski towns across the Northeast from PA to ME are just not posh enough to as Leaderman writes “… have never been big enough pools for the big fish.” And that means something has to change on a fundamental level. In this case a proper venue must be given to these big fish so they are able to properly display their wealth and opulence of their lifestyles. After all you do you want your Bentley parked equally with a KIA or Ford? As Leaderman points out more amenities need to be isolated from the local and traveling riff-raff: “…membership for the 2024-25 season promises things like exclusive mountain access for members and their guests to ride first-tracks, along with members-only experiences at the forthcoming spa and fitness center, adventure center, and Tom Fazio-designed golf course. The aquatic and racket center hopes to pop up in 2026”.
All of this is designed to ensure that only those with memberships to the Windham Mountain Club now reported to be $250,000 for the buy-in and $9,000 annually that will increase as more members-only amenities come online will have full access to the Mountain. That means ultimately alienating the second home owners who are an important resource to the town’s economic engine called tourism.
And in a Bizarre way people in the town seem to applaud this fact as one local resident stated “My family has been in this town for seven generations, and we’re still here,” Keachman said. “The Mountain Club really seems to be trying to bring this community together, offering jobs and opportunities for us.[Daily Gazette]” What jobs will this really provide for the town of Windham? The answer is not many and not many well paying jobs. And as it pushes out the second home owners we will see a decline in the “property management companies” and the “ landscaping companies” along with all their associated services companies for renting like “cleaning services”.
Make no mistake this plan to privatize the golf course is not about building a stronger community it’s about building a stronger vertically integrated monopoly for themselves in the town. They control the Ski Mountain and Adventure Park , one Hotel (soon to be two if the one on the plan pictured above is realized), one of two golf courses and soon they will have a spa, fitness center, riding center , aquatic center, shooting venue, and adventure center. What is left for the regular tourist? Not much just our natural beauty and hiking trails and one golf course.
But furthermore what the Rob Report truly highlights is that the Windham Mountain Club is still a second tier affair at this point with the following: “This year, most of the club’s dreams are swirling in the pipe, and the improvements have been modest: The locale upgraded one lift, added automated snowmaking on a few trails, and beautified its patio. The attempt to up its dining game is still in test-mode. The food at its Mediterranean Seasons restaurant is nothing to write to the Middle East about.” The article in Town & Country that they link to is less flattering for the town: “And while “Aspen East” is a bit of an inside joke for devotees of Windham—a 3,100-foot, 54-trail mountain above an eponymous rural town featuring a pizzeria, a BBQ joint, and several dive bars—change is indeed afoot. Locals and East Coasters with second homes in Windham are abuzz with the news that the mountain has a new group of majority investors led in part by hospitality magnate Sandy Beall, who is best known as the chairman and co-founder of Blackberry Farm and Blackberry Mountain.”— writes Deputy Editor Danielle Stein Chizzik February 2023’s issue. I guess referring to Beall as the Blackberry Farm co-founder instead of the brains behind the insult to culinary dinning that is Rubey Tuesdays [I’m surprised the Lawyers from The Rollin’ Stones didn’t have a field day with this one] is perhaps a nice touch.
The simple point I'm making is that for Windham to become the Aspen of the East it will require a fundamental shift in the town’s demographics and socio-economic make up. Meaning that the long term development of the town will have to be focused on allowing the billionaire class that wishes to create a vertically integrated community within our borders carte blanche to ravage our town’s resources and displace as many local establishments as possible. Imagine a future where every store in Windham is Prada, Gucci , Armani , LV and so on. All the eating establishments Nabu, Boulud, Ramsey and so pick your favorite Celebrity Chef that has mass produced his cuisine and marketed to across America. That is what our future will be: a micro-sized Rodeo Drive complete with the exotic sports cars— and the masses of poverty being displaced to the valley. This will not be a mountain top for the 7th or 8th Generation family members any more unless you’re 8th Generation Vanderbilt?
Or , we can start to take back our Community from the Billionaire Class that wish to plunder our resources like the CarpetBaggers of old during the Reconstruction Period. As the private-public nature of Windham Mountain Club becomes more apparent for what it truly is, PRIVATE ONLY! Will our response be to shrug our shoulders and pretend we cannot do things to change this future? Or will we create a cooperative response to this socio-economic threat and develop a plan of action that allows the people of Windham and the greater region to reassert our control over this town and region. This plan will need more than just our 7th and 10th Generation Locals to be part of it if we want to succeed. The transplants that now call Windham home must be welcomed into the fold fully. We must accept the fact that Windham is endangered of becoming a radically economically unequal society if we all don’t come together and build a new future. And we can build this new future if we embrace cooperation over competition.
[I reached out to Chip Seamans of Windham Mountain Club— he did not respond for comments…]