Foreclosure - Resort’s Suing By Bank Leading To Foreclosure

Resort’s Suing By Bank Leading To Foreclosure

March 14th, 2008

Credit Suisse bank is alleging that Tamarack Resort owes them $250 million and is ready to foreclose. The resort is near Donnelly and it is said to be in the red for $260 million in loan and interest. This seems to be the nail in the coffin for this Idaho ski resort. The two prime investors – Cross Atlantic Real Estate and VPG Investments had sought bankruptcy protection last month in a federal court.

Tamarack is now concentrating on raising money. Foreclosure is a time consuming process and time is the thing that the resort needs. This breathing space will allow Tamarack to either refinance or acquire another partner with extra money clout. As a last measure they could even sell it off bearing in mind the welfare of the community.

To this Miguel Afif of VPG Investments chose not to comment.

Tamarack Resort had been sanctioned the loan in May 2006 keeping the property of the resort as security. By the end of 2007 the resort owed about $5 million which it failed to clear. Time extensions had been granted several times but this did not bear frui. Credit Suisse wanted all the arrears to be cleared by 20th February 2008. The bank alleges that Tamarack has been running behind repayment schedules since the end of June 2007 by which time the loan amount was in excess of the value of the property. Tamarack also defaulted when several associated companies were allowed to merge. This was done without getting the green signal from Credit Suisse, alleges the latter. Another deviation from the loan agreement is the placing of at least nine mechanics’ liens on the property of the resort.

Tamarack had made its debut in October 2004 drawing the baby boomer generation that had money to throw around. At that time pieces of the property were being sold for more than $450,000 and predictions were high about the profitability of the resort – sure that it would run into uncountable billions. The resort comprises of houses, sites for condos, skiing area, golf course and a marina near the adjacent Lake Cascade. President Bush stayed in the resort in 2005 and things looked up beat.

The bankruptcy filing by the investors came after the French bank Societe Generale withdrew $118 million loan it had given for construction of the resort. Tamarack had been relying on this money to repay Credit Suisse.