Judge: Tamarack lifts, snow plow stay put for now

BOISE, Idaho — An Idaho judge on Thursday refused to let Bank of America Corp. repossess two ski lifts from Tamarack Resort, providing at least a brief reprieve for owners trying to keep the failed central Idaho vacation getaway intact for a possible buyer.

Fourth District Court Judge Michael McLaughlin in Boise said letting the Charlotte, N.C.-based bank's leasing unit dismantle lifts and seize a snow plow and other equipment could conflict with a separate Idaho lawsuit. In that case, Zurich-based Credit Suisse Group aims to recoup $300 million from a construction loan Tamarack also failed to repay.

McLaughlin will wait until after a July 16 hearing in Boise on possibly combining the two cases before weighing in on Banc of America Leasing&Capital LLC's demand for the lifts. He also wants to see how talks unfold with new investors — and if Credit Suisse, as is expected, soon ends payments to a court-appointed receiver that's run Tamarack since 2008.

"If the receivership has come to an end, I'm fully prepared to allow Banc of America to proceed forward," McLaughlin said.

The fight over lifts is the latest chapter in Tamarack's declining fortunes.

It opened in 2004 about 90 miles north of Boise to much hype, but since early 2008 has been mired in deepening financial misery. The construction loan ran out before buildings weredone, lenders balked at new funding and the vacation real-estate market collapsed. Tamarack mothballed operations in March after millions in losses and after Credit Suisse squeezed funding for the receiver.

The ski lift battle is another reminder of failed resort expansion across the West.

Losers have been those who bought real estate, dozens of unpaid construction contractors and insurance companies and hedge funds that snapped up more than $2.5 billion in syndicated loans arranged by Credit Suisse for places like Tamarack, Montana's Yellowstone Club and Nevada's sprawling Lake Las Vegas development that soured.

The biggest winners? Lawyers who are earning hundreds of thousands in fees sorting out the ensuing mess. One of them, Richard Boardman, an attorney for the court-appointed receiver, San Diego-based Douglas Wilson Co., told McLaughlin Thursday that letting Bank of America tear out lifts now could scare off investors being wooed for a financial rescue.

"I can give you plenty of examples of what could happen if this court were ever to order the possession of these ski lifts that are so integral to the operation of Tamarack Resort — what would happen if those lifts were suddenly allowed to be sold and were gone," Boardman said, adding bankers should be patient for a possible sale.

"If some of the interest that we understand has been expressed — very serious interest — in third parties coming in and providing the financing of this resort, perhaps Banc of America is back in line to get those lease payments," he said.

Bank of America wants Tamarack's Wildwood and Buttercup lifts, as well as a snow plow, shuttle bus and Mack truck, after missed lease payments since February.

Its lawyers also argue majority owners Jean-Pierre Boespflug, Alfredo Miguel, Richard Getty and Jerry Barnett should be held personally responsible for more than $4.3 million in lost valuefor the lifts, snow plow and other equipment.

Bank of America lawyer Brad Goergen told McLaughlin Thursday that talk of new investors was just that — talk — and said his client shouldn't be forced to "sit idly by" and wait for a white knight who may never materialize.

For instance, nothing came of efforts in 2008 to entice HDG Mansur Group LLC or Societe Generale, a French bank that balked at a $118 million construction loan, to save Tamarack.

"Until there's a binding enforceable sale agreement on the table, that's kind of an illusory problem," Goergen said. "It exists in theory but not in actuality. Until there's such an agreement in place, Banc of America Leasing shouldn't be required to sit by and not receive payment."

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July 02, 2009 - 7:49 p.m. EDT

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