GPI purchases St. Mary Lodge
Glacier Park Inc. has purchased the St. Mary Lodge and Resort for $16 million cash, the company announced last week. The deal was finalized June 29.
GPI runs all the large road-side lodges under contract with Glacier National Park and owns the Glacier Park Lodge in East Glacier. It also operates in the Prince of Wales Hotel in Waterton Lakes National Park in Alberta, Canada, and the red bus tours in Glacier Park under a lease agreement with the Park Service.
Earlier this year, GPI purchased Grouse Mountain Lodge in Whitefish. It now runs or owns eight properties in Montana.
The 115-room St. Mary Lodge was owned by investors John Blumfield and Johnny Noe, according to Cindy Ognjanov, president and general manager of GPI. State Department of Revenue tax records show the owners of record as Hugh Black St. Mary Enterprise Inc., which Blumfield and Noe bought from the Black family, who founded the lodge.
Revenue Department records show taxes on the resort weren't paid for 2009 and were partially paid for 2010. About $87,000 is owed in back taxes.
The sale to GPI includes the lodge, grocery store, gas station, several guest cabins and employee housing. All told, the deal includes about 82 acres of land just outside the St. Mary entrance to Glacier Park. Current employees will be retained, said Ognjanov.
"The addition of St. Mary Lodge and Resort extends GPI's current operations in and around Glacier and Waterton Lakes national parks," Ognjanov said. "We are very excited about this addition to our company. It gives us the opportunity to offer our guests a wider range of accommodation options on the Park's east side and extends our position as a hospitality employer of choice in Glacier County and in the state of Montana. The resort is a wonderful facility with a remarkable history in St. Mary, and we look forward to enhancing guest and employee experiences in this stunning national park gateway."
Ognjanov said GPI has some work to do on the lodge and properties. The company plans to add more cabins where several tepees are now and complete other capital improvements.
Seventy-five people out of 143 online at www.tripadvisor.com rated their stay at the lodge as horrible, 10 rated it good and 26 rated it poor.
Complaints ranged from bad carpeting and poor rooms to not getting refunds on room cancellations.
Ognjanov said people can expect a culture change at the lodge.
"We'll operate it like we do properties in (Glacier Park) with all the same values," she said.
The previous owners also sold timeshares at the lodge. Ognjanov said GPI would honor those.