Lender Repossesses Aspen Fractional Project

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The Dancing Bear, an Aspen fractional private residence club has been repossessed by the project's lender after a foreclosure auction failed to attract a single bidder.

The minimum bid submitted by German bank West LB, the Aspen fractional PRC project's lender, was $20.4 million for the completed phase one, which includes 40 unsold fractional ownership shares and the space containing the restaurant Brexi. The minimum bid for the project's unfinished second phase was $15.5 million. Combined, the minimum bid for the two parcels was $34.9 million, representing about 55 cents on the dollar from the $62.7 million in principal, interest and fees the bank is owed, according to foreclosure documents.

A crowd of around 30 real estate agents, developers and attorneys attended the sale, with the general consensus that the minimum bid was too high to attract serious bidders at auction.

Denver developer Heath DeLay said if the minimum bid had been in the $20 to $25 million range for both properties someone would have bought the project.

The repossession brings to a close a long and bitter legal wrangle. The bank now assumes ownership of the project from "devastated" developer Tom DiVenere, who has been fighting the bank for more than 15 months. DiVenere said he has had made several refinancing proposals rebuffed by the bank, which he claims has been "hell-bent" on controlling the project since 2009.

 

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