New Sugar Loaf owner and developer Jeff Katofsky told residents at a packed community forum Friday he plans to open a year-round, four-star resort on the property within the next five years.

More than 100 people crowded into the lower level of the Leelanau County Government Center (pictured) to hear Katofsky discuss plans for the property and participate in a Q&A on Sugar Loaf, which has sat vacant since 2000. Katofsky, a California attorney and real estate developer who owns the L.A. Angels-affiliated minor league baseball team Orem Owlz, acquired Sugar Loaf last year through a settlement agreement with former owner Remo Polselli. Katofsky also exercised his right to acquire the former Metropolitan Hotel in Romulus and the historic St. Clair Inn in St. Clair as part of the Polselli settlement; he has already rehabilitated and reopened the Metropolitan Hotel and broke ground last month on a $31 million renovation of the St. Clair Inn.

Katofsky pointed to his investment in those hotels Friday as proof of his seriousness in committing to Sugar Loaf, seeking to alleviate concerns among residents who’ve seen a revolving door of developers come through the property over the last 17 years. “I’m very blunt,” he told audience members. “I’ll always do what I say, like it or not. What I won’t do is tell you things I’m (just) thinking…if I say yes, I mean yes, and if I say no, I mean no.”

Katofksy outlined what he described as his definitive plans for Sugar Loaf, including constructing a four-star resort on the property by 2022. The resort would likely feature environmentally-friendly amenities like a geothermal energy system and a high-end “beautiful log cabin” aesthetic, the developer said, calling the planned accommodations "upper class."

“When you go to a resort, you have fine dining, you have a spa, you’ve got different kinds of amenities than you have in a hotel,” Katofsky said. “That’s what this piece of property needs.”

Katofsky said he will partner with a national hotel chain to brand the resort as a flagship, meaning it would become a “Sugar Loaf by…” Marriott, Hilton or another similar brand. Katofsky said he would retain personal oversight of the hotel, but that a branding partnership would allow Sugar Loaf to be internationally marketed to tens of millions of loyal reward members of such hotel chains. “That (partnership) is something I know is going to happen,” he said.

The developer also said he plans to scuttle the property’s aircraft landing strip and will grow wine grapes on resort acreage. “Not because I want to go into the wine business, but because I think it would be fabulous to have a Sugar Loaf wine to serve in the hotel, in the restaurant,” he said.

Numerous questions submitted by audience members for Katofsky during the Q&A centered on the possible revival of Sugar Loaf’s ski operations. “I don’t have an answer for you on skiing,” the developer told residents. “There’s not a single thing on that hill that can be used. We’re taking it all down; it’s dangerous and it doesn’t work. Whether we put Humpty Dumpty back together and make it a ski run, I don’t know. We’re looking at numbers and viability…if it doesn’t make financial sense, we’re not going to do it.”

Katofsky noted Sugar Loaf’s golf course was previously split off from the rest of the property and sold; the developer may partner with a neighboring entity to offer golf, but has no plans to construct a new course on the site, he said. Amenities like mountain biking and tennis or pickleball courts – suggestions submitted by audience members – are under consideration, though Katofsky stressed nothing was set in stone.

The developer also said it was “a promise” that no additional condominiums or townhomes are going to be constructed on Sugar Loaf’s property, adding he wasn’t going to further divide the land. The “only residential component” Katofsky said could be constructed going forward was employee housing. The developer estimated the redevelopment of Sugar Loaf will create 250 permanent jobs and another 100 temporary/seasonal jobs. “You do have a housing problem up here, especially an affordable housing problem. We may have to look at building affordable housing for our own staff,” he said, a comment that drew applause from audience members.

Katofsky wrapped up his presentation by offering a timeline for construction, saying he had to finish the restoration of St. Clair Inn before turning his attention to Sugar Loaf. While the developer says he already has lending lined up for the project, it’ll likely be another year before he comes back to Leelanau County with his team of consultants to begin planning and engineering work for the new resort. “From that point it’s a solid 18 months to two years before we can take a hammer to the place…and then figure 18 months to build it,” he said. “That gets us open in 2021-22.”

Katofsky noted one of the major hurdles of the project will be either upgrading or completely replacing the property’s flawed sewer system. “It’s a mess…it absolutely cannot handle the hotel opening,” he said. “It’s probably the biggest challenge we’ll have in construction, is to figure out utility issues.”

Katofsky asked for patience from residents as the project proceeds, saying he knew audience members had “waited 17 years” to see Sugar Loaf revived but that they were “going to have to wait some more.” He distributed his email address to the crowd and invited residents to contact him with any questions or suggestions. “One of the reasons I came up now is to stop the rumor mill and hopefully answer your questions,” he said.

Leelanau County Commissioner Patricia Soutas-Little, who helped organize the forum, told audience members she hoped the Q&A alleviated community anxiety about Sugar Loaf. “When we start down the road on this project, it’s not going to take just a village, it’s going to take a county to make it happen,” she said. “I think we have an exciting thing to look forward to.”