The developer of a spec home in Snowmass Village, once advertised for $16 million, has placed the property in bankruptcy.
The Chapter 11 bankruptcy was filed Aug. 12 in Denver by a limited liability corporation called 999 Brush Creek Road, which is controlled by Peter Droste, whose family sold the Brush Creek Ranch open space for $17 million to Pitkin County in 2010.
The bankruptcy comes when lender Okean Investments of Florida Inc. is trying to foreclose on the property because the LLC has defaulted on a $6.75 million loan, according to the Pitkin County Treasurer’s Office. A foreclosure sale had been scheduled the same day the LLC declared bankruptcy.
“It looks like this was a spec house that’s been for sale for a while,” said Adam D. Stein-Sapir of Pioneer Funding Group LLC, a Florida firm that watches bankruptcies. Stein-Sapir has not been involved with the Brush Creek Road bankruptcy or foreclosure proceedings, which are now on hold because of the Chapter 11 move. “If there’s a foreclosure, then Mr. Droste’s equity would be gone.”
Carbondale attorney John LaSalle, who filed the bankruptcy, declined comment last week. Droste also could not be reached.
The property had been listed for sale as of Thursday, but not longer was on the market Sunday, according to Zillow, a website that tracks real estate listings.
At one time it had been listed for $16 million, and more recently was advertised for $8.5 million.
“It’s a beautiful property; it just never moved,” said Jim Bineau of Coldwell Banker Mason Morse Real Estate. Bineau and his wife, Anita, most recently had the listing.
Marketing materials have described the property as an “elegant 14,688 square foot home on 46 private acres” featuring a “grand salon with carved fireplace, large kitchen, butler’s pantry to serve the dining room which can seat two or 32.”
The home also includes a “main floor office, guest master and soundproofed theater,” as well as other luxury amenities.
Construction on the six-bedroom, 10-bathroom home was completed in 2015.
The property’s bankruptcy file was scant on details through Friday. There are no unsecured creditors. A status conference is set Sept. 17 before Judge Joseph G. Rosania Jr.
The loan could have been cured with a $1.2 million payment, according to foreclosure records in the Pitkin County Treasurer’s Office. However, Droste did not respond to the Aug. 6 deadline to express his intentions to cure the loan, records show.
Okean Investments began foreclosure measures on the property in April. AD&D Mortgage of Florida originally held the note.