{"id":2450222,"date":"2019-10-22T23:12:01","date_gmt":"2019-10-23T05:12:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/despite-lenders-protest-snowmass-spec-home-remains-in-bankruptcy\/"},"modified":"2019-10-22T23:12:01","modified_gmt":"2019-10-23T05:12:01","slug":"despite-lenders-protest-snowmass-spec-home-remains-in-bankruptcy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/despite-lenders-protest-snowmass-spec-home-remains-in-bankruptcy\/","title":{"rendered":"Despite lender\u2019s protest, Snowmass spec home remains in bankruptcy"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

An attorney alleged Tuesday in Denver federal court that the developer of a Snowmass spec home declared bankruptcy in bad faith to avoid being foreclosed on by a lender who is owed more than $8 million.<\/p>\n

A bankruptcy judge, however, wasn\u2019t ready to lift the court\u2019s halt \u2014 referred to in legal speak as a \u201cstay\u201d \u2014 of foreclosure proceedings in Pitkin County on the Snowmass Village home, which at one time was marketed for $16 million.<\/p>\n

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Joseph G. Rosania Jr. instead set an evidentiary hearing for Nov. 18 to determine the merits of the bankruptcy and whether it meets legal muster to proceed.<\/p>\n

Florida-based lender Okean Investments is challenging the Chapter 11 bankruptcy that was filed Aug. 12<\/a> by a limited liability corporation called 999 Brush Creek Road and controlled by Peter Droste. A foreclosure sale, instigated by Okean Investments, had been scheduled Aug. 14 but was indefinitely delayed because of the bankruptcy filing.<\/p>\n

At Tuesday\u2019s hearing, Okean attorney Jason Buckley said the LLC owes approximately $8.325 million to the lender and a foreclosure sale betters its chances to recoup that sum. Okean holds a $6.75 million secured note on the property, yet the LLC hasn\u2019t made any payments this year on the debt, while interest accrues daily, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe company has had no cash flow ever,\u201d said Buckley, an attorney with the Aspen firm Garfield & Hecht. \u201cThere\u2019s never been any revenue. The debtor currently has no reserves or any cash to pay any type of adequate protection payments to the creditor and there are few unsecured creditors with relatively few claims.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added that \u201cadditional interest is accruing at approximately $4,500 per day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Okean is one of two secured creditors in the bankruptcy case; the Pitkin County Treasurer\u2019s Office is the other one, with a tax lien of $21,807 on the property, according to court documents. The Pitkin County Building Department has an unsecured claim of $85,000, and an Aspen law firm has a $5,800 claim.<\/p>\n

Carbondale attorney John LaSalle, however, objected to Buckley\u2019s arguments saying 999 Brush Creek Road has received a lender\u2019s commitment for debtor-in-possession (DIP) financing. LaSalle said the property, which is not currently on the market, will be relisted once the developer secures financing to finish the home.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe house has had market exposure and it hasn\u2019t sold in the period of market exposure,\u201d he said, adding \u201cwithout this type of luxury residence in this price range, it has to be completely finished and furnished to have any chance of successful marketing, and the successful marketing is of course our exit strategy from the Chapter 11, and the DIP financing will provide the money to finish the items necessary to complete the house.\u201d<\/p>\n

The financing would fund the completion of the home\u2019s outdoor entryway, landscaping, paving of the property\u2019s driveway, furnishing and other needs, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe anticipate the house will definitely be valued between $13 (million) and $14 million \u2026 and will permit us to exit Chapter 11 and go onto a successful sale,\u201d LaSalle said.<\/p>\n

Buckley said Okean can\u2019t rely on the developer\u2019s belief that the home will sell.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt this point there is no effective reorganization that is in prospect,\u201d he said. \u201cAll the debtor has right now is a hope that sometime in the future a purchaser will appear on the horizon to rescue them from this bankruptcy case.\u201d<\/p>\n

The judge noted that because the Pitkin County Assessor\u2019s Office most recent appraisal of the property is $9.7 million, that gives the LLC equity because it owes $8.3 million to Okean.<\/p>\n

The evidentiary hearing will include experts\u2019 appraised value of the property. Each side said they will bring their own experts with their own appraisals.<\/p>\n

rcarroll@aspentimes.com<\/a><\/p>\n

via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An attorney alleged Tuesday in Denver federal court that the developer of a Snowmass spec home declared bankruptcy in bad faith to avoid being foreclosed on by a lender who is owed more than $8 million. A bankruptcy judge, however, wasn\u2019t ready to lift the court\u2019s halt \u2014 referred to in legal speak as a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2450222","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-19 12:22:49","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley's Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2450222","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2450222"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2450222\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2450222"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2450222"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2450222"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}