Bank sues for $3.5M in Tamarack golf default

Bank sues for $3.5M in Tamarack golf default

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By JOHN MILLER - Associated Press

BOISE (AP) — An Oregon bank has sued owners of the golf course at financially troubled Tamarack Resort, asking a judge to order the 18-hole lakefront course be sold to satisfy loans and interest of more than $3.5 million.

The claim filed by Pacific Continental Bank, of Eugene, this month is the latest against the failed central Idaho resort. Investors in the development 90 miles north of Boise stand to lose millions of dollars after a collapsing real estate market, tight credit and a construction spending spree left them short of cash to finish buildings.

Zurich-based Credit Suisse Group is in the midst of a separate foreclosure battle as it seeks to recoup more than $300 million in syndicated construction loans, interest and penalties from Tamarack and its owners, Jean-Pierre Boespflug, Alfredo Miguel, Jerry Barnett and Richard Getty.

In its lawsuit, Pacific Continental alleges that West Mountain Golf LLC, owner of the Osprey Meadows golf course, is in default on a $3.5 million loan even after a pair of payment extensions since July 2008. West Mountain Golf is 60 percent owned by Meridian, Idaho-based Hopkins Financial Services, Inc., with 40 percent owned by Tamarack Resort.

"West Mountain Golf is in material default," lawyers for the bank wrote in documents filed June 3 in 4th District Court. "The bank has declared ... the entire principal balance, together with all accrued interest, late fees and all sums secured thereby, immediately due and payable in full."

Pacific Continental said it is owed principal and interest of $3.52 million, plus $583.33 that has been accruing each day since June 1.

It also said Boespflug, Miguel, Getty and Barnett had guaranteed to cover the resort's lease payments for the golf course should it default. West Mountain Golf had used payment guarantees as collateral for Pacific Continental's $3.5 million loan in 2005.

Tamarack defaulted on its golf-course lease in early March, the same time the resort was closed by court-appointed receiver Douglas Wilson Co. after running short of operating money and posting massive losses from the ski season.

As a result, Pacific Continental contends the four Tamarack owners are on the hook for at least $313,167 in delinquent lease payments, plus ever-rising late and overdue fees, according to court documents.

Randy Hopkins, owner of Hopkins Financial, didn't return multiple phone calls seeking comment.

In 2005, Hopkins said he'd invested $4.2 million into the Robert Trent Jones golf course to secure the majority share. In a press release at the time, Hopkins underscored the optimism that surrounded the resort real-estate boom by boasting the transaction was yielding his investors a "month-to-month" return of more than 9 percent.

Steve Millemann, a lawyer for Tamarack, said Thursday his clients hadn't yet been served papers from Pacific Continental's lawsuit.

Daniel C. Green, a lawyer for the bank in Pocatello, didn't immediately return phone calls or e-mails from The Associated Press seeking details on the foreclosure lawsuit.

On Thursday, in the separate Credit Suisse case, the Swiss bank's lawyers told a state court judge they aim to end payments by July 2 to Douglas Wilson, which has been running Tamarack since the court appointed the company as receiver in late 2008.

Fourth District Court Judge Patrick Owen approved what could be the last budget funded by Credit Suisse, a $205,000 infusion that would preserve the golf course and unfinished Village Plaza only through early next month.

Millemann told Owen that Tamarack's owners still want to secure money from new investors to prop up finances by the end of June. Meanwhile, lawyers for Douglas Wilson are arguing with Credit Suisse over attorney fees, which topped $5,000 per week in June.

At the close of Thursday's hearing, Owen suggested there's a chance investors, lenders and lien holders will be able to resolve one of the most complicated financial debacles in Idaho history without his court stepping in to divvy up Tamarack-related assets. But he wasn't particularly hopeful.

"Maybe there's a solution to this," said Owen, smiling weakly. "Maybe there's not."
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