The Sheboygan Press

Blue Harbor could be put up for sale after $24M write down
BY JOSH LINTEREUR
Sheboygan Press staff

The parent company of Sheboygan’s Blue Harbor Resort and Conference Center reported Wednesday morning that it’s exploring all options with the resort — including a sale — after recording a $24 million write-down of the property during the third quarter.

Officials from Madison-based Great Wolf Resorts Inc. placed the resort’s fair market value at $6 million after the write down and said all alternatives were on the table to increase the resort’s profitability going forward.

“The idea was that this was going to become more of a tourist district, and that really hasn’t come to fruition,” said Kim Schaefer, chief executive officer, during a morning conference call with analysts. “That’s really a big crux of the issue in Sheboygan.”

Blue Harbor opened in June 2004 with substantial help from the City of Sheboygan. The city loaned $4 million to Great Wolf to help build the 16-acre Blue Harbor complex, invested nearly $8 million to build the conference center — which Blue Harbor manages — and spent $10.2 million for infrastructure in the 42-acre South Pier District.

The resort was previously written down in February 2007, when the company imposed a $51 million charge on its fourth-quarter report due to devaluation of Blue Harbor and a Traverse City, Mich., resort. Officials at the time refused to say how much of the charge was for Blue Harbor, attributing the write-down to “current and expected future market and economic conditions.”

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