Bank threatened to pull lifts from Idaho resort
Thursday, September 11, 2008 11:16 AM PDT
BOISE (AP) — Bank of America threatened to remove two ski lifts after Tamarack Resort fell behind on lease payments, forcing the central Idaho development’s majority owners to promise to cover future shortfalls, a spokesman said Wednesday.
Bank of America did begin foreclosure proceedings on the resort’s three-building conference center while Sterling Bank began similar proceedings on an employee housing facility, with sheriff’s sales scheduled Oct. 28 and Dec. 29.
Separately, the biggest owner of the struggling ski and golf resort on Cascade Lake, Jean-Pierre Boespflug, conceded he may be forced to quit as chief executive officer to lure a new investor. The resort also may be sold.
These developments come after companies owned by Boespflug and Alfredo Miguel Afif, who control a majority of Tamarack, sought bankruptcy protection earlier this year when Credit Suisse Group went to court to foreclose on the property after the resort defaulted on a $260 million syndicated loan.
Ken Rider, Tamarack’s spokesman, said the resort’s board, including Boespflug and Afif, forged a new agreement with Bank of America in August to guarantee lease payments for the Buttercup and Wildwood lifts. He didn’t disclose terms of the new pact.
Rider said Boespflug was ‘‘confident’’ of resolving the foreclosure proceedings on the Arling Center conference buildings and employee housing by October.
Tamarack has paid its annual $250,000 lease to Idaho for the 2,100 acres of state land where the resort’s lifts are located. The next payment is due in January 2009, said Kathy Opp, deputy director of the Idaho Department of Lands.
During Saturday’s meeting of the Tamarack Municipal Association, the resort’s homeowners association, Boespflug told members he may exit management if that’s what it takes to secure a new investor, Rider confirmed.
Since 2000, Boespflug has been Tamarack’s public face, helping secure support of former Gov. Dirk Kempthorne, the Idaho Legislature and property buyers as well as adding an international flair with his strong southern French accent that betrays his childhood in Nice, France.
Now, however, some resort property owners say he’s standing in the way of new ownership they believe offers the best chance of stabilizing Tamarack’s finances.
