Developer finalizes plans to buy Sugar Loaf resort

Cedar — A California developer has finalized plans to buy a northern Michigan ski resort that’s been closed for 16 years.

Steven Haugen, a building official with the Leelanau County Construction Code Authority, tells the Traverse City Record-Eagle that Sugar Loaf, northwest of Traverse City, officially changed hands Monday.

Haugen says Jeff Katofsky obtained the resort for $3 million under the business name Sweet Bread LLC in a purchase that included six different parcels. Katofsky has pledged to turn it into a year-round high-end resort, maybe in three to four years.

Katofsky says: “Now we keep pressing forward, doing what we’re doing, and make final plans.”

Sugar Loaf is in Cedar and once was the largest employer in Leelanau County. It includes a golf course, lodging and an airstrip.