The two sides have been locked in legal conflict, threatening the closure of the resort, since PCMR missed the deadline to renew its lease, at which point Talisker sought to evict them and bring in Vail Resorts, which operates the nearby Canyons resort.
PCMR was given until September 12 to post the bond, and buy itself the right to open the resort for 2014/15. The judge’s figure was based on $5 million rent, treble damage and lawyers fees and will also protect PCMR from further damages should they ultimately lose their court case to beat the eviction.
If PCMR wants to guarantee being able to operate beyond this season they will have to post another bond of $19 million – a figure that will continue to go up on a season-by-season basis if the court case runs on.
The judge will announce the start date for the court case proper on September 30, during which the eviction will be upheld or rejected.
With thousands of jobs and millions of dollars at stake if the resort were to remain closed this season, the Park City community has been on tenterhooks over the last few days.
The Utah ski industry is thought to be worth over a billion dollars a year, and analysts have estimated that the economic impact of the resort not opening would knock the area back to 2008 recession levels.
For more on the resort, see Parkcitymountain.com
