Jonathan Cox of the east coast real estate investment firm The Federated Companies told KPCW his formal offer to buy Wohali is off the table.
The golf community in western Coalville had paused residential construction amid layoffs and tens of millions in debt, according to lawsuits from creditors and contractors.
Cox confirmed his firm had expressed interest in purchasing the property in recent months. He spoke about it publicly at a Coalville City Council meeting June 23, but now says the negotiations have fallen apart in the weeks since.
“We have also had discussions with the project's lenders, club members, the city of Coalville and other parties. We have spent a considerable amount of time onsite and believe that we understand the complexities that are preventing this project from moving forward,” Cox said in an email to KPCW Aug. 1. “While we remain interested in the property, we have been unable to reach an agreement with the various stakeholders including the project lenders and have withdrawn our formal expression of interest.”
Cox said The Federated Companies is watching the situation as it continues to unfold and considers Wohali “a world class golf course.”
It’s unclear if there is interest in Wohali from other buyers, but Coalville Community Development Director Don Sargent previously told KPCW the project is unlikely to fail long-term since other investors will see an opportunity.
“It's essentially not an uncommon situation,” Sargent said July 30. “Major developers do have these kind of situations come up when there's so much capital investment in infrastructure, and Wohali is no exception.”
Summit County residents have seen a similar situation play out before with the Promontory development.
NBC News reported Credit Suisse had loaned Promontory developer Francis Najalfi’s Pivotal Group up to $350 million in 2005, but the project bankrupted in 2007.
Pivotal Group bought the gated golf community back for $30 million at auction.
None of the seven companies affiliated with Wohali, nor any of its three founders, had filed for bankruptcy in Utah as of Aug. 1, but the project faces millions of dollars in lawsuits.
One of the resort’s founding partners, John Kaiser, told KPCW Aug. 1 “the buyer remains interested.”
“While we continue to work to find a solution, we intend to take action to avoid foreclosure,” he wrote in an email. “Our primary focus is to protect the jobs we have created and ensuring that all of our contractors and other creditors are given a seat at the table.”
Kaiser said he couldn’t give specifics on Wohali’s next steps.
The project’s biggest lawsuit is from foreign investors who lent $79.2 million through the federal government’s EB-5 program, which gives investors paths to permanent residency in the U.S. It’s unclear who Wohali’s foreign investors are.
Repeated efforts to reach the resort’s other founding partners David Boyden and Thomas Cottone either directly or through an attorney over the past week have been unsuccessful.
Separately, Cottone is suing Kaiser and one of his associates in 3rd District Court.
