Article by: Madeleine Osberger, Aspen Daily News Staff Writer
Related Colorado and its local subsidiary Snowmass Acquisition Company should not be able to suppress notice of a pending lawsuit against its Base Village project, according to a brief filed March 31 in district court on behalf of Sunrise Company.
Sunrise is asking the court to deny a request by Related Colorado’s limited liability company to dismiss a “lis pendens” notice from its Feb. 18 suit against the Snowmass Acquisition Company LLC, over the failed sale of Base Village Lot 3. If the lis pendens is approved, then a notification of Sunrise’s pending litigation against Related would be added into public records. Checking such records are a regular part of the due diligence process for potential buyers and lenders, and could be a deterrent to an otherwise interested party.
The suit asks that Related be required to abide by the terms of an agreement that it cancelled last October, three days after receiving preliminary approval from the town of Snowmass Village to complete the 1.1-million-square foot project at the ski area base. That “letter of intent” (LOI) agreement, announced in August 2014, would have had Sunrise develop 44 residential units in three currently unfinished buildings fronting Wood Road near the entrance to Base Village.
Subsequent to backing out of the deal with Sunrise, Related announced a letter of intent to sell all of its remaining Base Village assets to East West Partners of Avon. That deal fell apart in December, but East West’s continued interest in the project is rumored within the real estate community.
Sunrise’s suit, filed by Aspen attorneys David Bovino, Lauren Roberts and Peter Thomas, asks that Related be forced to sell it the $8.2-million property at the resort’s entrance in accordance with the LOI. It cited the “unique nature of the property at issue,” which offered 85,896 square feet of free market residential square footage at the ski area’s entrance, as among the reasons why the agreement should be honored. A jury trial is requested.
Related maintains the agreement with Sunrise was non-binding and in its March 3 response, filed by attorneys representing Snowmass Acquisition Company, LLC, Darrell Waas and Mikaela Rivera of Denver, contended:
Read Full Article here: http://www.aspendailynews.com/section/home/170737
Leave a Reply