Resort Financing Bust

Three hours ago CNBC.com aired a story about the Whistler-Blackcombe resort that is owned by Intrawest.  If the name Whister-Blackcombe sounds familiar is because they are hosting Alpine (snowboarding, ski-jumping) events for the current Olympics. What is interesting is Intrawest missed their mortgage payment of $540 million dollars in December and the current lien holder is threatening to foreclose unless an agreement is made by February 19, 2010.  The CEO of Fotress, Dan Mudd recently appeared on CNBC to discuss what is happening.

Intrawest is owned by Fortress Investments which is a well-known private equity firm and hedge fund.  Intrawest purchased the property in a leveraged buyout in 2006 for $2.8 Billion dollars.  Intrawest felt that condo sales would increase and they could pay back the $1.7 billion that they borrowed for this deal.  According to the article resort investments have been hit the hardest because of the current economy.