McLear, Haas apply for open position on the Gunstock Area Commission

GILFORD — Developer Rusty McLear and retired investment officer Randy Haas have applied for a vacant seat on the five-member board that manages Gunstock Mountain Resort.

In February, Steve Nix resigned from the Gunstock Area Commission, citing increased business and family demands. The panel is involved in a master planning process that will help determine the future of the county-owned resort.

The Belknap County Legislative Delegation, which appoints commission members, will meet June 1 to publicly interview the two applicants. The delegation will also consider a request from the commission for authorization of a revenue anticipation note of up to $1 million, essentially a line of credit.

McLear and his Hampshire Hospitality Holdings developed hotels, restaurants and shops that turned around the economic fortunes in Meredith. The turnaround began in 1983 when his company spent $500,000 to buy an asbestos mill that dominated the viewscape in what was then a sleepy town on a quiet end of Lake Winnipesaukee.

He and Alex Ray, owner of The Common Man restaurants, are partners in Granite State Hospitality, which operates the Hooksett Welcome Centers.

Tom Day, who is the president and general manager of Gunstock, was hired in 2014 by McLear to manage the welcome centers. Day is the former general manager of Waterville Valley Resorts.

McLear began skiing at age 7, worked in the industry and has logged almost a million vertical feet of helicopter skiing. 

He studied psychology at the University of Notre Dame but parted ways with the school after his sophomore year, transferring to now-closed Windham College, in Putney, Vermont, where there were fewer rules and more skiing. 

McLear said he sees great potential in the Gunstock resort and decided to apply for the commission in hopes of helping to make it more competitive with other ski areas in the state and in the Northeast.

One potential would be to build a hotel at Gunstock that would make it a destination resort, while generating more revenue for the county. 

“If people are here for two nights, they’re spending more on food, more on gas, more on other recreation if the weather is bad,” said McLear, who once lived in Gunstock Acres.

“It’s a really pretty area. It’s not a challenging area for a serious skier, but it is a good area, a great area to start with and even a very advanced skier can have a very good time there. It has the potential to be much better than it is.

A ski-in and ski-out hotel with a view of the lake would lure visitors, he said. 

“I skied the Bugaboos in British Columbia that are supposed to be the most spectacular things in the world, overlooking an unfrozen lake. That view from Gunstock is also world class. It’s really that good.”

Many resorts are utilizing the top of the mountain for food and beverage operations that attract people year round.

“I haven’t looked at the market for a drive-up restaurant, but whatever you built for winter would have more business in the summer,” he said.  

McLear sold his Meredith properties to a national firm last year, is investing in a residential project at the Colonial Theatre in Laconia and is on a state commission charting the redevelopment of the former Laconia State School campus.

Haas, in his application letter, said he retired in January 2018, is a season-pass holder at Gunstock, has been a skier for 50 years and a county resident for 40 years.

The Laconia resident has an MBA from Fairleigh Dickinson University and was vice president and senior portfolio manager at Ledyard Financial Advisors in New London before his retirement. He previously worked as vice president and investment officer at Laconia Savings Bank.

He did not immediately return a call for comment on Wednesday.