Cunningham Can Get His Land Back

April 16, 2005

     Bill Cunningham, who sold his controversial Mono Lake parcel to Mammoth Mountain Ski Area for $3 million in early March, can regain control of the land within two years under a complicated real estate scheme, Mammoth Mountain CEO Rusty Gregory said.

    Gregory, addressing members of the Mono County Collaborative Planning Team in early April, said Mammoth Mountain has the right to counter that move if it is willing to pay an additional $3 million—making the deal a potential $6 million sale.

    "This is not over yet," Gregory said.

    Gregory said the land, a 122-acre parcel along the northern shores of Mono Lake, was valued at $1.5 million by appraisers hired by the U.S. Forest Service, which has coveted the parcel as part of its Mono Basin Scenic Area.

    Cunningham at one point in the negotiations valued the land as high as $18 million, Gregory said.

    The two sides agreed on the sale earlier this month when Mammoth Mountain Ski Area forked over $3 million in cash, right at the time Cunningham was readying to buy oceanside real estate near Santa Cruz in Northern California.

    "We caught Bill at a weak moment," Gregory quipped.

    However, under the terms of the deal, Cunningham can reclaim the land within two years.

    "The name for the procedure is a 'call,'" Gregory said. "But we can defeat that call by doubling the price, to $6 million."

    Gregory said he did not have a sure-fire plan for what to do with the land. He denied that Mammoth Mountain ski area would develop the area. Also, he shrugged off a suggestion that the ski area would swap the land to the Forest Service in exchange for private ownership of the Main Lodge area, which the ski area hopes to rebuild.

    "We're taking a big risk without knowing what the outcome is going to be," Gregory said. "I'm under a lot of heat on this."

    Asked why he made the move, given the risks, Gregory said,

    "Because it was the right thing to do."