On Thursday, September 12, 2019 at 9:58:23 PM UTC-7, Bob Youngblood wrote:
On Thursday, September 12, 2019 at 7:37:52 PM UTC-4, 2G wrote:
On Wednesday, September 11, 2019 at 10:46:33 AM UTC-7, son_of_flubber wrote:
It might be possible to turn a profit on Seminole Lake Gliderport, but other 'member owned commercial cooperatives' focus on operating a first-class recreational/educational resource and preserving it for future generations. 'Profits' are reinvested in upgrades to equipment and facilities, and fund a reserve fund to carry on operations in 'lean years' (at a loss).

https://www.madriverglen.com/about-the-co-op/ comes to mind.

Non-profit Soaring clubs that own their airports have similar goals.

I agree that it is feasible to make a coop-owned operation work at Seminole because there are a lot of motivated glider pilots, with money, who need a place to fly. But my experience working with non-business type board members on a significantly sized not-for-profit ($22M current budget) is that they tend to wish things to be. News flash: wishing does not produce results; careful analysis and planning does. And add in a large dose of hard-nosed negotiation. On top of all of this, Seminole has some uniquely challenging legal situations, which demands EXTRA analysis and investigation than a normal business acquisition.

Tom

NPV, asset value, revenue, liability, things just do not add up for a successful run at SLGP. The valuation isn't there, so save your money, keep it in that stinking money market and your chances of a positive return are much better.

This may likely be so, but these zealots need to go thru the exercise for their own piece of mind. None the less, there also likely IS a valuation that makes sense, but that will be a WHOLE LOT LESS than $3M.

Tom