Skiing Anyone? Part I of II
Blue Ridge Real Estate
Ticker: BLRGZ
Price: $38.50
Avg Volume: 200
Shares Out: 2.39 million
Market Cap: $93 miilion

Ever wondered what a ski resort is worth? I never had until I ran across this small pink sheet company a few years ago. Blue Ridge Real Estate is one of the largest landowners in the Pocono Mountain region of Northeastern Pennsylvania, with a total of 19740 acres, 13951 of which are held for investment, and 5124 for development.

Each share of Blue Ridge is actually a unit, representing one share of Blue Ridge, and one share of Big Boulder Corp.

Here is a list od the companies assets:

Big Boulder Corp- Big Boulder ski area, a total of 925 acres including a 175 acre lake, and the Mountain's Edge Restauarant

Jack Frost Mountain Co- Jack Frost ski area, 473 acres, lift capacity of 13200 skiers per hour, lodge with food service, cocktail lounge, ski shop

Real Estate Management
1.Oxbridge Shopping Center-Richmond, Virginia, 14.37 acres, 127801 square feet of retail space, 78 percent occupied
2.Couresy Commons Shopping Center-East Baton Rouge, Louisiana,9.43 acres, 67755 square feet of retail space, 83 percent occupied
3.18689 acres in the Poconos-most of which is leased to hunting clubs
4.Sewage treatment plant,-serving resort housing at Jack Frost
5.Sports Comples at Jack Frost
6.The Stretchmembers only fishing club
7.Northeast Land Co-101 acres. 2 residential properties

Whats it worth?
First of all, land in the Poconos is plentiful, and it has never taken off to the extent that other resort areas have. This land is not, for example, in the same class as St. Joes Corp's land. But we still wonder, what this package of assets is worth.

Just valuing the land on an Enterprise Value/Acres basis gets you about $5000 per acre: $100 million EV/19740 acres. This is far too simple a calculation, but at least gives perspective.

The ski resorts last year generated revenenue of about $10 million, and showed an operating loss. Could the ski resorts be worth one times sales? That includes 1400 acres encompassing ski areas, and all the equipment.

What are the other assets worth? What do the fundamentals look like for Blue Ridge? What major Real Estate company owns a majority of Blue Ridge Shares? We'll try and answer these questions next week when we present part II.

*The author does not have a position in this stock. This is neither a recommendation to buy or sell this security. All information provided believed to be reliable and presented for information purposes only.