158 replies to this topic

[Peter]

 iceberg210, on Mar 23 2009, 07:29 PM, said:

A bit off the beaten path of the topic but nevertheless I found interesting...

That lift payment seems to me like Tamarack is getting a great deal. I mean it says over 78 grand a month, so let's assume it's 80 grand a month, that's only $960,000 a year for lifts. If this is for all lifts that's actually seems to me to be a fairly decent deal.

They've got three high speed lifts, two fixed grip, a Poma and a magic carpet. So what would that cost total? Upwards of ten million I'm sure! So really they are only having to pay less then ten percent with no interest which seems to me to be very affordable.

And I know that means nothing in terms of the overall financial condition and what not just found it interesting.

Beyond that it will be interesting to see if Bank of America does repo the lifts. I mean it's possible but it seems that they would cost quite a bit to remove and unless BOA had a customer in mind it might not pencil, plus I'd think that any prospective buyer of Tamarack would really want to prevent the lifts from going away as it would cause a huge hit to the value of the land and such that constitutes Tamarack. Guess it will all depend on whether a buyer comes first for the resort, or a buyer comes first for the lifts.

Other articles have said that the $78,000 monthly payment is just for the Buttercup and Wildwood Express lifts.

[iceberg210]

 Skier, on Mar 23 2009, 08:52 PM, said:

Other articles have said that the $78,000 monthly payment is just for the Buttercup and Wildwood Express lifts.

I see, that would actually make much more sense.

In that case however it may not be as problematic if BOA were to foreclose because Tamarack would still have some lifts which would preserve the ability to be a ski resort easily in the future. In fact it might be best for them to return the lifts if they could negotiate a deal with BOA where they wouldn't be out any cash and the payments would go away. Hard to tell if that would be possible but it might help if it were able to happen.

[SkiBachelor]

If I remember correctly, the two L-P HSQs have been paid for.

Tamarack used part of a $40 million dollar loan to purchase and install them and paid this loan off from real-estate sales. However, Tamarack's creditors could always take ownership of them to pay off other obligations if Tamarack files for Chapter 7.

The BOA loan is probably a 5-7 year loan.

[Peter]

I wonder if this loan will be taken out of Bank of America's hands and taken over by the government through the Toxic Assets Relief Program (TARP). This seems to be just a ski area equivalent of a home foreclosure.

[SkiBachelor]

I doubt it would because Tamarack has only missed 2 payments so far and will make additional payments now with its 1.7 million dollar loan.

[Peter]

 SkiBachelor, on Mar 24 2009, 10:22 PM, said:

I doubt it would because Tamarack has only missed 2 payments so far and will make additional payments now with its 1.7 million dollar loan.

"Tamarack didn't want this budget approved because it doesn't provide enough money for the resort to pay two of its most significant leases -- the monthly payments for its ski lifts and golf course."

[Peter]

http://www.spokesman.com/blogs/boise/2009/...buyer-tamarack/
Possible buyer for Tamarack?

The failed Tamarack Resort near Cascade could have a buyer in the offing, Tamarack chief Jean-Pierre Boespflug told the state Land Board today. “We do have a very difficult situation,” Boespflug told the board. The ski and golf resort boosted employment in Valley County by 32 percent from 2003 to 2007, but now many of those new workers are unemployed and considering leaving. “That process is still at a point where it is reversible,” Boespflug said. But he said Tamarack is approaching “the last 45 to 60 days where something can be done.” He said, “The solution is to find a buyer, and a buyer with the expertise and the cash to be able to deal with a property like this,” adding, “Me and my partner, we are wiped out … we want to see a community thrive.”

The ski resort is largely on leased state land, which is why the Land Board is among the major “stakeholders” in what happens to the resort. Boespflug said he and other key parties were “locked up in a tower in L.A. with a … mediator” last week, and he’s anticipating an offer from a buyer. “This is just the beginning of the tunnel here,” he said. “As you can imagine, this offer is going to be at pennies on the dollar.” He mentioned the possibility of a “short sale” and Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings. “But also there is going to be a process with all of the stakeholders - this buyer is going to want to talk to everybody,” including the state. “You are going to be contacted,” he told the Land Board, which is chaired by the governor and includes Idaho’s top state elected officials.

Secretary of State Ben Ysursa told Boespflug, “I wish you the best of luck. All the way through this, Jean-Pierre, you’ve been a good partner with us. You had quite a vision, I know it went sour. … We all want this to succeed somewhere down the line.” He noted, however, “We have to protect our interests, obviously.”

Boespflug said when inquiries come in from the buyer, they’ll have to be answered quickly. The money to employ the last remaining Tamarack employees is “about to run out,” he said. “What I can tell you is that we are out of money, either the owner or Credit Suisse. … That money is going to have to come from the new buyers.” He called it “a very high-stakes thing … in the next 45 days.”

Gov. Butch Otter, who referred to the potential buyer as a “white knight,” said, “You’re asking us to be prepared when this pennies-on-the-dollar offer comes forward, if it comes forward, to be prepared … to share in the pain.” He said he’d like to know “how much pain we’re talking about.” Boespflug said the state endowment isn’t owed any money; its next payment for the lease isn’t due until January. He said he’s restricted by a confidentiality agreement from discussing the terms of the possible buyout.

After the Land Board meeting, Otter said he’s hopeful. The state’s endowment only made about $900 a year off the land in question before the ski resort came in, he said; that then jumped up to a quarter-million dollars a year. That’s not counting boosts in tax revenues from the development and employment there. “My counsel to the board would be, I think … we ought to be prepared to share in some of that pain,” the governor said. “I think it’s a reasonable process for us to go through that, and say, what can we take in terms of a reduced amount in order to financially help them restructure, and still fulfill our obligation under the Constitution?” The Land Board is charged by the state Constitution to manage state endowment funds for the maximum long-term return to the beneficiaries, who include the state’s public schools.

[Peter]

Buyout Offers Expected Shortly for Tamarack Resort
After months of being closed down, all parties in the Tamarack Resort debacle seem optimistic that a deal could be done soon. But resolution on the Credit Suisse-led interim funding is yet to be seen.
NewWest.net
By Jonathan Weber, 5-28-09



A handful of possible buyers have emerged for the shuttered Tamarack Resort near McCall, Idaho, and if all goes well a new owner who would re-open the resort could be in place within the next 3-4 months.

The situation remains tenuous, and a court hearing Thursday focused on if and how the resort could come up with additional temporary funding to maintain the property while a deal is negotiated. The latest interim funding provided by the Credit Suisse-led lender group - which loaned Tamarack $250 million in 2006 and is now owed well over $300 million with penalties and interest - will expire at the end of the month. Final resolution of that issue was postponed until tomorrow.

But for the first time in the many months (the resort filed for bankruptcy in February of 2008 and then shut down in March of this year), there seemed to be some optimism about the big picture, following a mediation session last week in Los Angeles that all sides portrayed as successful. Although there is a strict confidentiality order surrounding the mediation, sources familiar with the situation said the goal was to come up with a deal structure that would be acceptable to Credit Suisse and the owners of the resort, which is now in receivership.

The parties did reach agreement on several of possible scenarios, these sources said, including a full buyout of the property or a transaction that involved less cash but left the Credit Suisse lender group with much of the equity.

Other sources who asked not to be identified said that Jean-Pierre Boespflug, majority owner of the resort, and Mexican businessman Alfredo Miguel Afif, the second largest shareholder, were each working with separate partners on a bid for the property. Washington-based businessmen Jerry Barnett and Richard Getty, the backers of the nearby Blackhawk development and each 8 percent owners of Tamarack, are also said be preparing a bid. Two outside parties are also said to be interested.

Steve Milliman, an attorney for Tamarack, said “credible offers” were expected very soon, with one coming as early as tomorrow. While the prospective buyers would provide interim funding for the three to four months it would take to close a deal, that money would not be available for at least a few weeks, even assuming the offers come in as expected.

It’s not clear what the buyers might pay, and they would also need substantial financing to fund the resorts operating losses until the real estate market turns around. As with other new resorts in the West, Tamarack depends on real estate sales to pay the bills, and vacation home sales across the country have all but ground to a halt.

One person familiar with the situation said the price was likely to be in the $30 million to $40 million range, with another $75 million to $100 million available to invest going forward. Those numbers could not be confirmed. Almost any scenario would leave the lender group with a big loss and would wipe out the current equity holders completely.

[Peter]

Tamarack's receiver kept in charge of running the resort
By Brad Talbutt - btalbutt@idahostatesman.com
Published: 06/12/09

Tamarack Resort’s lenders are apparently prepared to keep funding a court appointed receiver week to week, but their willingness and money may run out soon.

Credit Suisse attorney Elizabeth Walker told Fourth District Judge Patrick Owen on Friday that lenders would allow receiver Douglas Wilson to use previously allocated but unused loans to continue maintaining the resort another week, through June 21, and to pay a monthly liability-insurance premium of $35,000.

But a $160,000 property tax bill won’t be paid, said the receiver’s lawyer, Douglas Pahl.

The resort will accrue interest and penalties of 3 percent until the bill is paid, Pahl said.

Tamarack owes the Credit Suisse-led group of lenders more than $300 million.

There may not be much money left, according to a source familiar with the situation. He believes loans from the resort’s lenders, about $12 million since the receiver was appointed in October, will run out by the end of the month, and that lenders won’t be willing to extend more credit to keep the receiver afloat. If the receivership is dissolved, control of the resort will be returned to the owners, led by Jean Pierre Boespflug and Miguel Afif.

Boespflug told the Statesman that if that happened, bankruptcy was not an option and the property would likely sit idle until the foreclosure process played out sometime next year. A foreclosure hearing is scheduled for March.

Boespflug said negotiations with potential saviors are under way.

“We have three strong buyers,” he said. “I am confident we will have a binding letter of intent from one of them by the end of June.”

[tahoeistruckin]

Bank demands to repo Tamarack lifts, snow plow




http://www.localnews....asp?S=10629897
Associated Press - July 1, 2009 8:24 PM ET

BOISE, Idaho (AP) - Bank of America is demanding two ski lifts back from Tamarack Resort, saying the struggling central Idaho vacation getaway has missed lease payments.

In a court hearing set for Thursday, the Charlotte, N.C.-based bank is also due to demand cash from the resort's owners, saying they should be held liable for millions in tardy lease payments and other losses.

In 2008, resort owners including Jean-Pierre Boespflug and Alfredo Miguel agreed to make payments to the bank for lifts after once before falling behind.

According to court documents, however, the bank now says payments haven't been made since February 2009 - for lifts and other equipment like a snow plow.

An attorney for Boespflug and Miguel says they're fighting the repossession, because new investors Tamarack is seeking would want a resort that hasn't been dismantled chairlift by chairlift.

[Peter]

Tamarack reverts to owners' control
Money to pay a court-appointed receiver has run out.
- THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: 07/08/09

Credit Suisse Group told a state judge that it's ending funding for the court-appointed receiver running Tamarack Resort.

That means operational control of the Valley County real-estate development, ski area and golf course will revert to its owners Wednesday.

The resort still owes a lender group led by Credit Suisse $300 million for a construction loan.

Jean-Pierre Boespflug, the majority owner, said Tuesday that he doesn't plan to inject additional money and says he now fears the degradation of facilities if nobody provides new funding for preservation efforts. Boespflug says he's optimistic a new investor will be found.

Douglas Wilson, the San Diego, Calif.-based receiver, is also concerned about Tamarack upkeep after Wednesday.

Wilson said after a 4th District Court hearing in Boise, "We stretched the dollars as far as we could responsibly, but at this point, the tank is out of gas."

Tamarack opened in 2004 about 90 miles north of Boise to much hype, but since early 2008 has been mired in deepening financial misery.

The construction loan ran out before buildings were done, lenders balked at new funding, and the vacation real-estate market collapsed. Tamarack mothballed operations in March.

In a separate lawsuit, Bank of America Corp. seeks to repossess the Wildwood and Buttercup ski lifts because of missed lease payments.
_______________________________________________________________________________
Jul 2, 2009 5:48 pm
Judge: Tamarack Lifts, Snow Plow Stay Put For Now
JOHN MILLER, Associated Press Writer
BOISE, Idaho (AP) ― An Idaho judge on Thursday refused to let Bank of America Corp. repossess two ski lifts from Tamarack Resort, providing at least a brief reprieve for owners trying to keep the failed central Idaho vacation getaway intact for a possible buyer.

Fourth District Court Judge Michael McLaughlin in Boise said letting the Charlotte, N.C.-based bank's leasing unit dismantle lifts and seize a snow plow and other equipment could conflict with a separate Idaho lawsuit. In that case, Zurich-based Credit Suisse Group aims to recoup $300 million from a construction loan Tamarack also failed to repay.

McLaughlin will wait until after a July 16 hearing in Boise on possibly combining the two cases before weighing in on Banc of America Leasing & Capital LLC's demand for the lifts. He also wants to see how talks unfold with new investors — and if Credit Suisse, as is expected, soon ends payments to a court-appointed receiver that's run Tamarack since 2008.

"If the receivership has come to an end, I'm fully prepared to allow Banc of America to proceed forward," McLaughlin said.

The fight over lifts is the latest chapter in Tamarack's declining fortunes.

It opened in 2004 about 90 miles north of Boise to much hype, but since early 2008 has been mired in deepening financial misery. The construction loan ran out before buildings were done, lenders balked at new funding and the vacation real-estate market collapsed. Tamarack mothballed operations in March after millions in losses and after Credit Suisse squeezed funding for the receiver.

The ski lift battle is another reminder of failed resort expansion across the West.

Losers have been those who bought real estate, dozens of unpaid construction contractors and insurance companies and hedge funds that snapped up more than $2.5 billion in syndicated loans arranged by Credit Suisse for places like Tamarack, Montana's Yellowstone Club and Nevada's sprawling Lake Las Vegas development that soured.

The biggest winners? Lawyers who are earning hundreds of thousands in fees sorting out the ensuing mess. One of them, Richard Boardman, an attorney for the court-appointed receiver, San Diego-based Douglas Wilson Co., told McLaughlin Thursday that letting Bank of America tear out lifts now could scare off investors being wooed for a financial rescue.

"I can give you plenty of examples of what could happen if this court were ever to order the possession of these ski lifts that are so integral to the operation of Tamarack Resort — what would happen if those lifts were suddenly allowed to be sold and were gone," Boardman said, adding bankers should be patient for a possible sale.

"If some of the interest that we understand has been expressed — very serious interest — in third parties coming in and providing the financing of this resort, perhaps Banc of America is back in line to get those lease payments," he said.

Bank of America wants Tamarack's Wildwood and Buttercup lifts, as well as a snow plow, shuttle bus and Mack truck, after missed lease payments since February.

Its lawyers also argue majority owners Jean-Pierre Boespflug, Alfredo Miguel, Richard Getty and Jerry Barnett should be held personally responsible for more than $4.3 million in lost value for the lifts, snow plow and other equipment.

Bank of America lawyer Brad Goergen told McLaughlin Thursday that talk of new investors was just that — talk — and said his client shouldn't be forced to "sit idly by" and wait for a white knight who may never materialize.

For instance, nothing came of efforts in 2008 to entice HDG Mansur Group LLC or Societe Generale, a French bank that balked at a $118 million construction loan, to save Tamarack.

"Until there's a binding enforceable sale agreement on the table, that's kind of an illusory problem," Goergen said. "It exists in theory but not in actuality. Until there's such an agreement in place, Banc of America Leasing shouldn't be required to sit by and not receive payment."

[Peter]

Tamarack homeowners seek to reopen ski resort
Associated Press - September 28, 2009 7:04 PM ET

BOISE, Idaho (AP) - Homeowners with properties near the shuttered Tamarack Resort north of Boise are taking legal steps in hopes of reviving the resort's ski operation this winter.

The ski resort closed in March because of financial problems.

Tamarack homeowner Bill Ciraco told The Associated Press he and other homeowners filed court papers last week saying they've gotten funding from a Mexican real estate investment company to help reopen the ski resort.

The homeowners want the resort to resume operations, to maintain the value of their own investments as well as help lure an eventual investor they hope will rescue Tamarack.

Tamarack opened in 2004 about 90 miles north of Boise at the apex of the real-estate bubble, but has been struggling to stay alive since it began missing payments on a $250 million syndicated loan arranged by Zurich-based Credit Suisse Group.

The golf course reopened this summer.

[Peter]

Tamarack homeowners fear resort's death

Associated Press - October 19, 2009 9:14 PM ET

BOISE, Idaho (AP) - Tamarack Resort homeowners fear lifts and other equipment will be stripped and sold for pennies on the dollar if they can't convince an Idaho judge to approve their plan to take $7.9 million from a Mexican real-estate investor to save the upcoming ski season.

On Monday, 4th District Court Judge Patrick Owen heard competing salvos from lawyers for homeowners and a lender group led by Zurich-based Credit Suisse Group.

Owen said he'd rule soon on whether to allow the homeowners to formally intervene in Credit Suisse's foreclosure case.

Leonard De Los Prados, a homeowner, predicts, "If this doesn't get approved, Tamarack will be sold as salvage instead of as a resort."

Credit Suisse opposes the homeowners' plan, largely because the Mexican lender that's offered the money has made the deal contingent on it being repaid first - before existing creditors who are already owed more than $300 million.

[Peter]

Tamarack skiing unlikely as Mexican lender exits

Associated Press - December 3, 2009 6:34 PM ET

BOISE, Idaho (AP) - A homeowner group at central Idaho's Tamarack Resort has abandoned its plan to reopen ski lifts this winter after a Mexican lender withdrew a $7.9 million loan offer.

The West Mountain Preservation Management Association homeowners group failed to get a court hearing for its proposal amid opposition from a Credit Suisse Group-led lending syndicate owed $300 million by the failed resort.

In a letter provided by the homeowners to The Associated Press on Thursday, they wrote, "Without a hearing in mid-to-late December, there would be no possibility of winter season skiing."

Credit Suisse opposed Inmobiliaria Las Fuentes, S.A.'s offer because the Mexican company demanded to be repaid before existing creditors.

The homeowners blame the Swiss bank for scuttling their plan, saying Inmobiliaria's appetite for a potentially costly legal battle "simply wore thin."

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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[Peter]

Judge: Idaho's Tamarack Resort officially bankrupt

BOISE, Idaho

A federal judge has agreed to declare Tamarack Resort bankrupt, clearing the way for a trustee to begin liquidating the failed ski resort's assets to pay back creditors.

In a ruling filed Wednesday, U.S. District Bankruptcy Judge Terry Meyers agreed to requests from a construction company and other creditors to the failed resort that Tamarack Resort be forced to go through the bankruptcy process.

The move means a trustee may begin the likely lengthy process of turning Tamarack's equipment and other assets into cash, to be divvied up among its creditors.

The Swiss bank Credit Suisse is also moving in state court to foreclose on the Tamarack Resort property. The state court is charged with figuring out which creditors are entitled to recover their loans to Tamarack and which creditors will be first in line for cash. That case is set for trial this fall.

http://www.businessw...s/D9EH9PG80.htm

[Peter]

Tamarack Resort may be surrendered
Valley County officials think a sale of the bankrupt resort may already be in the works.
BY JOE ESTRELLA - jestrella@idahostatesman.com
Copyright: © 2010 Idaho Statesman
Published: 04/10/10


Tamarack co-owner Jean-Pierre Boespflug has concluded that somebody else will have to breathe life into the resort he built and hoped to finish.

Boespflug said a bankruptcy judge's decision Friday to allow Tamarack Resort LLC to convert its liquidation case to a reorganization case will buy time to find somebody willing to pay for the stalled project. And that will ensure creditors owed more than $314 million will receive part of their money back.

"This provides hope that we can find a resolution that is favorable to everybody and gets something to all the parties," Boespflug told the Idaho Statesman.

The conversion - from Chapter 7 of the federal bankruptcy law, which normally leads to straight liquidation, to Chapter 11, which normally allows a business to continue operating free from the threat of creditors' lawsuits - may speed a sale, some local leaders say.

"If they converted it to a Chapter 11, then there must be a buyer in the wings," Cascade Mayor R.W. Carter said. "And the court probably knows who it is."

Valley County Commission Chairman Jerry Winkle said, "I hear there are two potential buyers."

Winkle said a sale of Tamarack - even for less than what is owed to local creditors - will be a lifeline for area contractors who are "owed an enormous amount of money and are holding on as best they can."

Carter said finding a new owner who will begin construction on the resort quickly is essential for the county, which has an 18 percent unemployment rate.

"People got used to Tamarack," he said. "It was like when the (Boise Cascade) mill closed when Tamarack shut down. It became like a Third-World country around here."

Boespflug hedged his bets, however, when asked if a sale would end his association with Tamarack.

"The new owner could want me to be part of his team," he said.

He noted that any sale would be at current market value, which with the economy in a slump will not generate enough to satisfy all the resort's debts. Those debts include more than $260 million owed Credit Suisse, a Swiss investment bank that foreclosed on the resort when Tamarack defaulted on its loan in 2008.

"It's going to be impossible to pay the creditors in full," he said.

Boespflug's attorney, Randy French, said Tamarack LLC will have at least 120 days to file its reorganization plan with the bankruptcy court. He said it's unlikely that Tamarack's creditors would try to immediately have the bankruptcy converted back to a Chapter 7 so that the resort's assets can be sold off to pay its debts.

"It's perfectly clear that nobody believes that they (creditors) would get more from a Chapter 7 than they would from a Chapter 11," French said.

Boespflug said Judge Terry Meyers could change the bankruptcy back to a Chapter 7 liquidation "if he thinks I'm wasting everybody's time."

"But as long as we show good faith, the judge has a lot of discretion to allow the debtor to remain in control of the situation," he said.

Boespflug said the proposed reorganization plan will revolve around raising enough money to cover continuing maintenance at Tamarack, legal fees and creation of a marketing plan designed to attract potential buyers.

He said he and his three partners in the Tamarack project, including Mexican businessman Alfredo Miguel Afif, will ask the bankruptcy court for permission to take on a new loan to come up with part of the funding. The loan would have to be paid back first from the proceeds of a sale of the resort. Boespflug declined to say how much of a loan he will ask the court to approve.

By late 2008, dozens of liens worth more than $20 million were filed against Tamarack by subcontractors who were never paid for work they did at the resort.

"I could use it. It's not like there is a lot of construction going on," said Marc Anderson, owner of Independent Metal Fab in Middleton.

He is still owed $67,000 for installing steel canopies, facades on storefronts, columns and connecting steel on structures. That does not include $1,800 a month Anderson spent from January to June 2007 for housing his crew at Tamarack.

Read more: http://www.idahostat...l#ixzz0kpSoreVn

[hoodoo]

http://www.businessw...s/D9HDGQL81.htm


Failed Idaho resort residents aim to revive skiing
By JOHN MILLER

BOISE, Idaho

Homeowners at a failed central Idaho resort want to resurrect ski lift operations next winter and are asking the state, a bankruptcy judge and creditors who are owed hundreds of millions to go along with their plan.

The Tamarack Municipal Association, which represents property owners at Tamarack Resort in Donnelly, said they'd use some of their reserves to initiate a four-day, Thursday-through-Sunday ski season starting in December. The resort hasn't had a ski season since mothballing the lifts in March 2009.

Its majority owner, Jean-Pierre Boespflug, is trying to find a buyer while the resort's finances are sorted out in bankruptcy court.

Zurich-based Credit Suisse Group is among dozens of creditors trying to recover hundreds of millions in unpaid debts.

The homeowners said Thursday they have a business plan showing they could break even.

Two ski lifts that are subject to litigation because Bank of America Corp.'s leasing unit wants to repossess them wouldn't be operated, according to the plan. The five lifts that would be used provide access to most of the skiing terrain on 7,700-foot West Mountain.

The homeowners would likely have to work out an agreement with the state, because the resort failed to pay its $250,000 annual lease for state land where most ski runs are located, and another payment is due next year. Homeowners pledged to make a "substantial payment" in exchange for a winter recreation season.

"That's one of the things that will need to be resolved," said Scott Peyron, a spokesman for the homeowners who hope their proposal can go before the Idaho Land Board in September.

Season passes would cost $199.

George Bacon, director of the Idaho Department of Lands, didn't immediately return a phone call seeking comment.

A Credit Suisse Group spokeswoman in New York declined to comment.

Last year, the bank opposed a previous plan by some owners to fire up lifts with a $7.9 million loan from a Mexican real estate investor. That deal collapsed amid opposition from the Swiss bankers to provisions ensuring the Mexican lender would be repaid before other creditors who are already owed more than $300 million.

Peyron said the homeowners aren't asking for similar concessions with their latest proposal.

Boespflug told The Associated Press Thursday he supports this proposal, in part because operating ski lifts will help make the resort easier to market to potential buyers and because it will help prop up flagging property values of homes whose prices collapsed when the lifts were idled more than a year ago.

Boespflug has so far been unable to find a buyer, amid a complicated tangle of demands from a syndicate of lenders - headed by Credit Suisse - who want their money back.

"There is nothing to report on this process," Boespflug said.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Terry Myers would also have to agree to the homeowners' plan.

In April, Myers agreed to give Boespflug a chance to reorganize Tamarack's debt and ask creditors to modify terms of loans, rather than holding a fire sale.

On Monday, Myers gave Boespflug another 90 days to resolve lease issues with Idaho over 2,124 acres of state-owned land, according to federal bankruptcy court documents.

[CH3skier]

Utah company says it's offered to buy Idaho resort
August 11th, 2010 @ 6:16pm
By John Miller, AP Writer
BOISE, Idaho (AP) -- A Salt Lake City real estate investment company says it has offered an undisclosed sum for Tamarack Resort, the central Idaho ski-and-golf getaway that collapsed in 2008 under hundreds of millions in unpaid debt.

Pelorus Group owner JT Bramlette told The Associated Press his company aims to buy the resort, which is in bankruptcy court.

Bramlette and others at Pelorus are named in a lawsuit in federal court over a separate real estate development near the Idaho-Wyoming border.

The owners of Tamarack Resort in Donnelly, about 90 miles north of Boise, owe $300 million to a syndicate of lenders led by Credit Suisse Group, as well as millions more to builders, contractors and suppliers who worked on buildings at the site before construction ground to a halt in 2008.

Bramlette didn't disclose the amount of his offer. The resort has been priced at $68 million. CB Richard Ellis, a Los Angeles-based real-estate company, has been marketing Tamarack to potential buyers.

"We plan on buying Tamarack at a discount, based on the current status of economy and the project," Bramlette told the AP Tuesday evening.

Last month, Bramlette's company agreed to buy Tamarack's conference center for about $1 million. The Arling Center will eventually open for weddings and other gatherings, he said.

"We've spent the last six months doing our due diligence on Tamarack and surrounding area, talking with current residents and homeowners," Bramlette said. "We'd like to be the ones to get in there and get it straightened out."

Bramlette said his offer was submitted to U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Terry Myers last week.

Phone calls to Jean-Pierre Boespflug, Tamarack's majority owner, and CB Richard Ellis, weren't immediately returned.

Doug Dvorak, a Tamarack Municipal Association board member who was among homeowners who last week presented a plan to operate the ski area this coming winter, said Pelorus hadn't contacted the board over its plans.

"This is nothing but positive news, but for the last 18 to 24 months, there's been a slew of rumors, things like Donald Trump is coming, this and that," Dvorak said. "Until a deal has been inked, the keys have been handed over, and there's physically a new buyer, I'm trying to manage my own expectations and the expectations of the constituents I represent."

It's unclear whether the loan syndicate, comprised of dozens of investors led by Zurich-based Credit Suisse, will agree to the sale under terms offered by Pelorus.

Credit Suisse spokesman Duncan King declined to comment.

Aaron Wernli, another Pelorus owner, said the syndicate could accept his company's offer, take another one, or choose to hold Tamarack assets in hopes the vacation real-estate market rebounds.

"We think we've made a strong bid, we have strong partners," Wernli said. "It's not just about acquiring the asset, it's about developing a successful project for the state of Idaho."

Bramlette and Wernli aren't new to real estate in Idaho.

They're named in a federal lawsuit filed in 2008 over the Teton Springs Golf & Casting Club, a development in Victor in eastern Idaho. Twenty-seven plaintiffs who had hoped to benefit from lucrative real-estate investments contend Bramlette, Wernli and others conspired to misrepresent the value of property west of the tony resort region of Jackson, Wyo.

"JT Bramlette told them the appraisals were for hundreds of thousands of dollars more than what they cost to purchase," said Jeff Meyerson, an Austin, Texas, lawyer who represents the plaintiffs. "It's very surprising to my clients that he's still in business."

A trial in that case in U.S. District Court is scheduled for Oct. 13.

Bramlette counters Teton Springs investors who lost money amid the vacation real estate market's swift collapse in 2007 and 2008 are unhappy and trying to recoup their money any way they can. After the crash, he said, such lawsuits "are just the nature of the business."

"The market was yanked out from beneath everybody," Bramlette said. "When you are dealing with investors who lost money, they're looking to point the finger at somebody."

[CH3skier]

After reading this, I don't think he is able to pull this one off.

Jet gone, Utah investor aims for Idaho comeback
August 12th, 2010 @ 6:20pm
BOISE, Idaho (AP) -- A Utah investor who lost a $5 million private jet, a $450,000 car and his membership in the Utah Jazz's premier fan club amid bankruptcy last year contends his company will resurrect a moribund central Idaho ski and golf resort.

James Thomas Bramlette, just 32, is leading Pelorus Group, which offered an undisclosed sum to buy bankrupt Tamarack Resort, north of Boise.

The Salt Lake City man says he's the "comeback kid" -- and contends he's assembled investors with the financial power to do this deal.

Tamarack is languishing under more than $300 million debt and unpaid bills.

Some Tamarack homeowners now are concerned about Bramlette's past financial turmoil.

Meanwhile, plaintiffs in a federal lawsuit over another Idaho development involving Bramlette claim they were misled into an investment that soured.

[zeedotcom]

The big issue here is that even if he pulls it off and makes the transfer happen, there is the minor task of running the resort. Finding knowledgeable management and skilled staff in addition to customers could be difficult unless they were to do what CNL does and have someone else do the actual running of the resort, though those circumstances are a bit different.