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Aug. 25, 2011
If Mother Nature cooperates, snowmaking at the Wisp Resort in McHenry will commence in less than 90 days, and skiers and snowboarders will be back on the slopes beginning the day after Thanksgiving, Nov. 25.
That is according to Karen Myers, president of Recreational Industries Inc., who met with reporters this week after it was learned that Branch Banking & Trust (BB&T) Corporation has entered judgments against the Wisp’s land development company, called Wisp Resort Development Inc., and various loan guarantors because of lagging payments on loans of over $28 million to fund the new Lodestone Golf Course and home sites atop Marsh Mountain.
The guarantors of the loan, all of which are named in the judgment, are Recreational Industries Inc., DC Development Inc., and Clubs at Wisp Corporation, as well as Myers, Gary Daum, and Steven Richards, owners.
Since the filing in Garrett County Circuit Court last month, rumors have abounded that the Wisp Resort either has been or will be sold because of the current financial situation.
“This is probably the same story that is being told by a lot of other developers around the country,” Myers said, noting the continuing lag in the housing market, adding, “The ‘illness’ [in our operation] is just related to the land development segment of the business.”
Meanwhile, Myers described the Wisp Resort as “a vibrant and profitable business” that will begin its 56th season of skiing this fall.
It was in February 2007 that BB&T provided a loan of $23.5 million as a revolving line of credit to fund the construction of the golf course and the Lodestone home sites. Because this type of loan is predicated on sales of home sites to pay down the loan balance and because the lot sales were sluggish, as construction on the golf course neared its end in 2008, an additional $5 million was borrowed “because we believed it was better to have a finished golf course than a partially finished golf course,” Myers explained.
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