More Tamarack Foreclosure Progess
SUMMARY
1. On January 2, 2013, Judge Owen granted reconsideration motions of creditors that may signal a sped-up foreclosure. On November 16, 2012, Judge Owen conducted a "reconsideration" hearing on the issue regarding whether Credit Suisse's roughly $12,000,000 "Receivership Mortgages" should or should not be foreclosed by the claims of those creditors who were determined to have senior claims in the property that was also secured by Credit Suisse's $250,000,000 Village Plaza and Tamarack Mortgages. The January 2 decision determined that the senior construction claims would, upon a sheriff's sale, terminate the Receivership Mortgages as to the property sold at a sheriff's sale.
2. Also in a prior ruling, the Judge had determined that credit bidding would not be permitted on the Village Plaza because of the impracticality of instructing the sheriff on how to process credit bids considering that there were conflicting and competing credit bid claims among MHTN, OZ, Kessler, Tri-State, and Banner/Sabey. The Village Plaza construction claimants, Banner/Sabey, Tri-State Electric, Kessler Construction, MHTN Architects and OZ Architects are collectively owed about $13,000,000 on Village Plaza. These claims are senior to Credit Suisse's Village Plaza Mortgage but do not apply to the Credit Suisse's Tamarack Mortgage (described below).
3. In the last month, Banner/Sabey acquired the lien claims of Tri-State, Kessler, OZ and MHTN. Banner/Sabey is aggressively pursuing a decree of foreclosure that could lead to a sheriff's sale of the Village Plaza and is requesting the right to credit bid as the single senior claimant on the Village Plaza. Timing is uncertain, but if Banner/Sabey's proposed decree is granted by Judge Owen, a sheriff's sale on Village Plaza could occur in the next 45 to 90 days. However, given Credit Suisse's prior tactical approach to the case, more procedural delay should be anticipated.
BACKGROUND AND DETAILS
In 2006, Credit Suisse loaned Tamarack Resort, LLC $250,000,000. This $250,000,000 loan was secured by two mortgages − the "Village Plaza Mortgage" and the "Tamarack Mortgage." The Village Plaza Mortgage applies to property in the Village Plaza that is currently in a state of partial completion. The Tamarack Mortgage applies to all of the other property that had not been sold by TRLLC, including the State Leasehold Property on which most of the ski hill is located, Discovery Plaza, the Mountain Maintenance Building, the Lake Wing, the proposed Fairmont hotel site, numerous estate lots that are not yet sold to private parties, and the "Heritage" development property on the south side of the currently developed Resort. The "Tamarack Mortgage" also includes several rooms in the Lodge at Osprey Meadows. Neither mortgage includes the property that comprises most of the commercial space in the Lodge, which is owned by West Mountain Golf and subject to an unrelated, yet equally complex, mortgage. In 2008, Credit Suisse acted as agent for a new set of investors to loan the receiver over $12,000,000, secured by mortgages for the various advances under that loan facility. The Receivership Mortgages covered all of the Tamarack property (including Village Plaza) that had not already been sold to private parties.
As part of the stipulation to allow a receivership in October 2008, Credit Suisse agreed that the Receivership Mortgages would be senior to the 2006 Village Plaza and Tamarack Mortgages but junior to any claim that, after a full trial, was found to be senior to the 2006 Village Plaza and Tamarack Mortgages. Recently, Credit Suisse had argued that the other litigants were required to re-plead to specifically name the receiver and the Receivership Mortgages as defendants. In an earlier order, Judge Owen had agreed.
In the January 2, 2013, decision, Judge Owen reversed that prior order and decided that the senior claims of Banner/Sabey, MHTN Architects, OZ Architects, Tri-State Electric, and Kessler Construction, could, upon a sheriff's sale of Village Plaza, terminate the Receivership Mortgages. This would not affect the Receivership Mortgages' interest in most of the property covered by the Tamarack Mortgage. But, for the Village Plaza properties, Credit Suisse would only have a "right of redemption" with respect to its interest in Village Plaza property after what we speculate to be a sheriff's sale by credit bid to Banner/Sabey.
Banner Sabey completed the acquisition of the other four Village Plaza senior claims only as recently as January 11, 2013. Banner/Sabey now believes that it can proceed to a Village Plaza sheriff's sale with a credit bid as the sole owner of all claims senior to Credit Suisse, as opposed to having to come up with cash on a claim by claim basis. Banner/Sabey is requesting this opportunity in a proposed decree, and has set a hearing for January 31, 2013.
Banner/Sabey's consolidated claims are senior to Credit Suisse's Village Plaza Mortgage, but their claims do not apply to the Tamarack Mortgage property, so they do not impact the timing of Credit Suisse getting to a sheriff's sale on the Tamarack Mortgage.
There is no definite timeline as to when a sheriff's sale of the Village Plaza property might occur. If the proposed decree is granted, timing of a sheriff's sale will be at Banner/Sabey's discretion. Now that Village Plaza creditors are consolidated down to simply Banner/Sabey as a single creditor, it is likely to proceed quickly, to apply pressure on Credit Suisse to pay off the roughly a $13,000,000 lien claim. Assuming that Banner/Sabey is able to proceed to a sheriff's sale, Credit Suisse has two options: 1) pay the $13,000,000 before or at a sheriffs sale or 2) within six (6) months, exercise its right of redemption, assuming that Credit Suisse wants to maintain unified ownership of both the Village Plaza and the rest of the Tamarack assets. A sheriff's sale results in a sheriff's certificate of sale which allows the successful buyer to possess the property, subject to the debtor's and redemptioners' rights to redeem. Redemptioners include certain categories of junior creditors such as Credit Suisse's claim in Village Plaza. If neither Credit Suisse nor another redemptioner redeems the Banner/Sabey purchase in 6 months, then Banner/Sabey receives a Sheriff's Deed and becomes owner of Village Plaza in fee simple.
The recent decision and Banner/Sabey's recently filed motions are large incremental steps in a very incremental process. Many more incremental steps remain, including resolution of attorney fees since the trials ended in late 2011 and early 2012.
So far, BAG, MHTN and OZ have not sought a sheriff's sale to foreclose on their interests in the Fairmont Hotel site, the unfinished Lake Wing or the unfinished Trillium Townhomes, respectively. Sheriff's sales to satisfy their judgments also appear to terminate the Receivership Mortgages on those parcels, but not the remainder of the Tamarack Resort LLC real property. On such sheriff's sales, Credit Suisse also becomes a redemptioner. Because those lots are of relatively small acreage, the period for exercising a right of redemption is also 6 months from the date of sheriff's sale.
On January 17, 2013, BAG requested an updated decree of foreclosure indicating termination of the receivership mortgage as to the Fairmont Hotel site.