Kirkwood, CA – Ski resort owner/operator Vail Resorts, Inc. on Thursday announced that the company has closed on its acquisition of Kirkwood Mountain Resort south of Lake Tahoe in California. The deal was first announced on February 22.

With its purchase of Kirkwood, Vail Resorts now operates three ski and snowboard resorts in the Lake Tahoe region to supplement its portfolio of four resorts in Colorado, and now offers joint season pass products that join Kirkwood with Heavenly Mountain Resort and Northstar California.

The transaction, which included the ski resort and undeveloped sites at the center of the base area, closed for total consideration of approximately $18.0 million. Shareholders of seller Kirkwood Mountain Development, including that company’s CEO David Likins and CFO Nathan Whaley, retain a participation interest in the base area parcels and continue to own the remainder of the real estate development sites to be marketed through Kirkwood Mountain Realty.

Vail Resorts also announced that the electricity power plant which the Kirkwood Meadows Public Utility District broke ground on last May is now fully operational. Sitting outside of the state’s power grid, Kirkwood relies upon the plant to produce the power necessary to run the resort and the surrounding community. The new 10,000 square foot diesel fired plant replaces previous facility that burned to the ground on January 1, 2010, leaving the resort without electricity for several days. The utility sold $5.5 million of Bond Anticipation Notes in September 2010 to fund the construction of the new power plant.