Archive for the 'Colorado' Category

A group of commercial foreclosed homes and other commercial properties in Snowmass Village, Colorado will be controlled by New York-based Related Companies in an agreement with Bank of America, which lent $110 million to acquire the properties.

The properties include three Sonnenblick Condominiums, the Snowmass Mountain Chalet, the Snowmass Inn and the Snowmass Center Commercial Center.

On June 30, documents were filed in Pitkin County for the transfer of deeds of trust of the foreclosed properties from Bank of America to acquiring firm Related Companies.

The properties were used as collateral in taking out the $110 million loan from BofA by limited liability companies reportedly run by Pat Smith, who was the former head of developer Related WestPac.

The 5 properties were foreclosed in April and are set to be sold through a public auction on August 26.

Bill Boineau, the mayor of Snowmass Village, said that the foreclosures put some certainty on the ownership and operations of the properties, but he expressed hope that the Moebius family and other smaller partners, will be protected in the proceedings.

Boineau said that the Moebius family, who built the Silvertree Hotel and who bought the Snowmass Inn from a foreclosure over 30 years ago, were pioneers and contributed a lot to what Snowmass is enjoying today.

Related Companies, the managing partner of the entity developing Snowmass, is the one foreclosing on the limited liability companies, based on county court records. Related, which has $10 billion in portfolio holdings, is believed to be the financier of Related WestPac.

Mark Moebius said he did not know that the Snowmass Inn, which his family still operates, was used as collateral and is not updated about the details of the foreclosure proceedings. He however said that he heard that Related Companies was working out something that could benefit his family.

On the other hand, he said, any foreclosure proceedings could end his family’s interest in Snowmass Inn. But he keeps faith that Related Companies will consider his family’s interest.

Lawyer and town official Arnie Mordkin said the foreclosures will ultimately benefit the town because the identity of who is really in control of the properties will be known and the future of properties such as Snowmass Center will become more certain.

Snowmass Center has a lot of tenants most of whom are local merchants and small business operators.

Local businessmen said they hope Related Companies will be able to carry out projects that would be beneficial to the community.