Spanish Peaks’ liquidation process comes to spotlight

Water, vehicles in question

By Taylor Anderson
Big Sky Weekly Assistant Editor

Many questions have been raised during the first month after Spanish Peaks closed its doors and its parent company filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy.

Now under the spotlight is the liquidation process of all the clubs’ assets.

A Wall Street Journal article in November announced the former club for the rich would begin auctioning off the 63 vehicles Spanish Peaks owned when it closed.

The club has just $29,000 in cash, the article reported the bankruptcy trustee as saying. The trustee, it said, cited harsh winters as reasons to ramp up liquidation of the club’s assets as part of the Chapter 7 process.

Early reports of the debt-to-asset ratio listed, at most, a 10–1 ratio, and a list of creditors between 100 and 199.

During the sell off, the club’s water system will be among the assets in question. At a November meeting, the Big Sky Water and Sewer District examined what would happen to the water system, which is overseen by John Olson, one of five employees remaining at the club. The board recognized the system is at risk of damage during the winter.

The district bills Spanish Peaks customers but doesn’t run the drinking water system. It does run sewage through a pipe that travels from the club to ponds in the meadow.

The water infrastructure at the club is valued around $8,000,000 and could be sold off at a depreciated price as part of the liquidation process.

It’s unclear, however, if Spanish Peaks would continue running the water system until a potential sale of the entire resort, in which case the water could go with it, as well. The club could also choose to sell the water to a private, for-profit company.

Spanish Peaks Holdings II bankruptcy trustee in New Jersey, Charles M. Forman, didn’t return calls to the Big Sky Weekly to answer questions about the liquidation process.

Check explorebigsky.com/chapter7 for daily updates on the liquidation process.

Taylor@theoutlawpartners.com