Girdwood’s Alyeska Resort is being sold to a Canadian hospitality company

The ski area and hotel at the heart of Girdwood is in the process of changing hands.

Alyeska Resort is under contract to sell the Hotel Alyeska and popular Girdwood ski area to a Canadian hospitality company.

Alyeska announced Tuesday that the company "has entered into a contract to sell substantially all of its resort assets to Pomeroy Lodging."

That means the hotel, resort and land, according to Alyeska spokesman Eric Fullerton.

Alyeska Resort and the 300-room Hotel Alyeska are about 40 miles southeast of Anchorage.

The parties expect the sale to be finalized by the end of the year, Alyeska said.

Pomeroy Lodging, based in Grande Prairie, Alberta, owns and operates 18 hotels in western Canada, including a 408-room lodge in the Canadian Rockies.

Asked about the company's plans for the property, President Stefan Nasalski said "we're still early in the process" and that the company will make more announcements this year.

"As our plans firm up, we'll be in a better position to talk," he said.

John Byrne has owned Alyeska for more than 12 years, Fullerton said in an email.

The Alyeska property is Pomeroy's first property outside Canada. Nasalski would not disclose the sale price.

The resort and related property is appraised at $45.8 million in 2018 for tax purposes, according to the Municipality of Anchorage Property Appraisal Division. Most of that value is held in land, buildings and structures, at $34.1 million. The remainder, $11.7 million, is counted as personal property, such as furniture, equipment and other assets used in the operation of the business.

Fullerton, in a brief interview Tuesday morning, declined to say if Alyeska initiated the sales discussions or if other potential buyers were involved. Nasalski also would not say.

The resort is nearing its 60th year in operation, Fullerton said. The hotel and tram are coming up on 25 years.

Alex DeMarban contributed reporting.