CONCORD, N.H. — Some potential buyers are expressing interest in acquiring the northern New Hampshire resort where the first-in-the-nation presidential primary ballots are cast.
The Tillotson Corp. board of directors is having “positive discussions” with the interested parties about the Balsams Grand Resort Hotel in Dixville Notch, but no decision has been made yet, Tom Deans, a spokesman for the group, said Wednesday. “I hope for everybody’s sake this is not a long process,” he said.
The 7,700-acre resort is still closing, at least temporarily, on Sept. 15, the date the property was to be transferred to a new owner, Ocean Properties. The sale fell through earlier this month. “We have determined that all of the conditions required for us to finalize the purchase of the resort cannot be fulfilled,” Tom Varley, senior vice president of Ocean Properties in Portsmouth said in a statement.
Ocean Properties had planned to close the 150-year-old Balsams for renovations and reopen it sometime next year. Deans said Wednesday the board has not made a decision yet about when the resort would reopen.
“I don’t want to get any hopes up,” said Deans, managing trustee of a trust set up by the Tillotson family, which has owned the resort since 1954. “I want people to know there’s some very positive things happening but when, how and what they will be are the things that are under discussion.”
Before he died in 2001, Neil Tillotson, who started the tradition of hosting the first votes among Dixville Notch residents in 1960 at the resort, specified that it be sold or given away and the proceeds go to charities.
The Balsams employs about 300 full- and part-time workers depending on the season, making it one of the largest employers in the North Country, a region that has lost many jobs in manufacturing in recent years.
Meanwhile, some events normally held at the Balsams in the fall have been relocated, such as a lumberjack challenge, which is to take place in Errol.
Justin Eldred, manager of the North Country Chamber of Commerce, said between 10 and 15 events usually held at the Balsams between the fall and the spring have been canceled, such as golf tournaments and a hospital ball.
“We’re all crossing our fingers and praying here” that the Balsams reopens, he said. “We’re all trying to remain as optimistic as we can.”
One member of the Tillotson family, Rick Tillotson, started a “Save the Balsams” Facebook page encouraging North Country residents, resort workers and former guests to write to the board about keeping the Balsams open and operating until a new buyer is found.
“We feel the time urgency very strongly, to not keep this in limbo any longer than we have to,” Deans said.
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- FILE – This Jan. 26, 2004 file photo shows the Balsams Grand Resort Hotel, in Dixville Notch, N.H., where the first-in-the-nation presidential primary ballot has been cast for 50 years. The 150-year-old hotel has been owned by the Tillotson family since 1954. Sale of the the property to Ocean Properties, fell through Thursday, Aug. 11, 2011, and the resort will temporarily be shut down as of Sept. 15. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty, File)
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