Village des Soleils – Vacation Homes @ Mont Tremblant

Villages des Soleils is a condominium project which was developed in the late 1980′s by the then-owners of Gray Rocks, a long time Laurentians vacation destination with a reputation for sports activities such as skiing, golf and tennis. It is located in Quebec’s Laurentian mountain region within five miles of the Mont Tremblant resort area. Specifically it is located on a mountainside close to the southeast of Lac Ouimet, on which Gray Rocks itself is situated on the west shore.

Village des Soleils was built with two objectives in mind:

• to provide condo ownership to those who frequently visited the Laurentians (and usually Gray Rocks)
• to provide, through a rental agreement with the co-owners, additional accommodation that could be rented out as accommodation for Gray Rocks customers.

Phase I, comprising 24 units, was completed in 1987; Phase II, comprising 32 units was completed during the winter 0f 1989. Funds from the sale of Phase II units were used to finance the installation of the quad chair lift at Gray Rocks ski hill, Sugar Peak.

The original purchases of the units were from a company associated with the management group that owned Gray Rocks at the time; that ownership declared bankruptcy in June, 1992. Phil Robinson, who already owned and operated the nearby Mont Blanc ski resort, purchased Gray Rocks from the bankruptcy trustee for six million dollars.

While Gray Rocks already had a golf course, La Belle, Mr. Robinson was instrumental in the development of a new golf course, La Bete, for which accommodation units surrounding the golf course were also developed and sold.

In the spring of 2008 Mr. Robinson tore down the original section of the main Gray Rocks building as it had become unsafe for use as accommodation and other hotel activities (and the rooms had not been rented for several years). He also financed the construction of a connection to the Mont Tremblant municipal sewer and water system at the nearby Grand Lodge at the north end of Lac Ouimet.

On December 24, 2008, Mr. Robinson announced that he would be closing Gray Rocks for all operations except operation of the golf courses on March 29, 2009.

However, the Village des Soleils condominium units are owned by individuals most of whom have previously had a “Gray Rocks” family vacation experience over the years. Now several owners have come together over the summer of 2009 to form Lac Ouimet Rentals Corporation with the purpose of renting out vacation home suites when they are not using them for their own activities.