Bank threatened to pull lifts from Idaho resort

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.

With real-estate sales slumping, construction at the site 90 miles north of Boise is at a standstill. Tennis stars Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf have bailed out of a luxury hotel project and Boespflug and Afif are seeking new investors.

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.

"They gave us due notice," said Rider, of Bank of America's threat to remove the lifts. "We immediately opened the communication channels. Obviously, those are very important to our overall resort experience."

Rider said Boespflug was "confident" of resolving the foreclosure proceedings on the Arling Center conference buildings and employee housing by October.

The four-person Wildwood lift takes skiers and snowboarders up 1,650 vertical feet, accessing intermediate and advanced terrain; the Buttercup shuttles riders from Tamarack's Whitewater residential development to the slopes.

Shirley Norton, a spokeswoman for Bank of America in Charlotte, N.C., didn't return a phone call. A Sterling Bank spokesman in Houston also didn't return a phone call.

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.

She wasn't aware of Tamarack's problems with Bank of America. "We have not received any notice," Opp said.

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.

"That's something he's indicated to the management team: if that was the course that needed to happen, he'd be willing," Rider said. "It's obviously not something that's easy for somebody who has invested as much time, money, enthusiasm, emotion and passion in the resort as he has."

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, helping preserve the value of their investments or even shoring up insulation-flapping buildings in the unfinished Village Plaza. Some favor Credit Suisse's plan to take over.

Four property owners contacted by The Associated Press on Wednesday confirmed their concerns about Boespflug's management but declined to comment on the record. Postings on a Tamarack Municipal Association Internet discussion group reflected their frustration.

Boespflug was meeting with bankers from Credit Suisse Wednesday and wasn't available for an interview, Rider said.

Tamarack is still trying to find a buyer or secure a cash infusion from a new investor, including working with Idaho's affordable-housing lender to arrange up to $670 million in revenue bonds to be backed by future real-estate sales. Still, Steve Rector, an Idaho Housing and Finance Association spokesman, said Tamarack hasn't contacted the association since two public meetings in August over the bond plan.

"We haven't heard from them," Rector said.

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On the Net:

Tamarack discussion group: http://groups.google.com/group/Tamarack-Homeowners/topics