New Buyer Steps Forward For The Tamarack Resort

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed)
Nov 23rd 2010 at 2:02AM

There's a new twist in the case of the the Tamarack Resort with another potential new buyer set to step up to the plate. In May 2009, the resort in Donnelly, Idaho officially closed. The resort has remained in bankruptcy court and the current owners still owe $300 million to a syndicate of lenders led by Credit Suisse Group, as well as facing unpaid bills from builders, contractors and suppliers who worked on the project.

The new candidate is Matthew Hutcheson who is behind Green Valley Holdings, a group based out of Eagle, Idaho. The group called a press conference to announce a $40 million cash offer to purchase the resort and have submitted a letter of intent to the U.S. Bankruptcy Court overseeing Tamarack's bankruptcy. They say that they have hired a team of professionals with expertise in real estate and resort management but one thing hasn't been stated, where the money is coming from. The terms also require Tamarack to close by March 15th, 2011. Back in August we heard of another offer but that one seems to have disappeared.

Eye on Boise was at the event and termed it. "a very strange press conference." Hutcheson took no questions from the press, instead choosing to ask and answer his own questions. He listed his partners as his wife, Annette, and Larry, Scott and Rod Givens. It's a little unclear what someone with a background as an independent fiduciary and advocate of 401K reform is doing in the resort business. At the conference he said he hopes to bring "hope and economic vitality" to the area, finishing existing construction projects and adding jobs.

Tamarack was welcomed with acclaim when it was announced in 2003 and buyers committed more than $500 million for condos, houses and building sites bringing a big rush of Aspen-style prosperity to the area. Tennis stars Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf were attached to building a luxury hotel complex, the Fairmont Tamarack Local stores and restaurants flourished, jobs abounded and rents rose. Former President George W. Bush visited the resort for a summer hike in 2005. But around the time of the start of the global recession in 2008 building slowed and eventually the investor who had already put up money for the Fairmont Tamarack decided not to put up any more money for the project. This led the developers to slow construction. Combine this with the nationwide real estate droop and you have a recipe for a boom town gone bust. Will Hutcheson be the knight in shining armor to save this project? That's for the bankruptcy court to deliberate.

Tags: credit suisse, Credit Suisse Group, idaho, tamarack resort