It’s been more than four years since the Sugar Loaf Resort was demolished, and it’s still all quiet on the western front.
The site’s current owners, SPV 45, have still not revealed their plans for the former ski resort in Cleveland Township, which was closed in 2000.
And the owners of SPV 45 are still anonymous, as they are based in Delaware and not required to disclose their names and addresses.
The only known activity at Sugar Loaf last year was an extremely small property line adjustment, recorded July 25 by the Leelanau County Register of Deeds. Since this adjustment affected less than half an acre of land, this seems to have been a mundane property line dispute with a neighbor.
Ross Satterwhite, a Lelandbased real estate adviser who worked with SPV 45 in purchasing Sugar Loaf and demolishing the resort, was also the primary media contact in 2020-2021. But Satterwhite could not be reached for comment for this update.
Sugar Loaf was inaugurated as a ski park in 1947 and was one of the biggest employers in the area for over half a decade before it closed in 2000. Although it was once a successful resort, the cracks had started to show by 1981, when its owners defaulted on their loans.
From there, the property changed hands constantly both before and after its closure. One of the owners, Remo Polselli, was convicted of tax fraud, and the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on a tax collection lawsuit filed by his wife in 2023.
SPV 45 acquired Sugar Loaf from Sweet Bread LLC in December 2020 and began demolishing the resort about a year later. The resort’s decaying and unused facilities prompted Cleveland Township officials to adopt a blight ordinance in 2020.
Cleveland Township Supervisor Tim Stein said that the new owners have addressed their concerns about blight, but they have not identified themselves or made any apparent moves to redevelop the massive 160-acre parcel.
The resort is still remembered fondly, and the Leelanau Historical Society has an exhibit called “Sugar Loaf: A Retrospective” at their museum on 203 E. Cedar St. in Leland. It features memorabilia donated or loaned by the community and some oral histories of the resort. The exhibit is still taking contributions from Sugar Loafers and will be open through the end of the year.
