The Uptown 240 development in Dillon is pictured on Oct. 21, 2021. (Libby Standord/Summit Daily)
The proposed sale of a partly built condo complex in Summit County will return only $75,000 to dozens of condo buyers who paid $6 million for units they will never see.
If approved by a judge next month, the sale will be one last disappointment for the men and women who made down payments on 41 condos at Uptown 240 in Dillon and then watched as it sat unbuilt year after year during the pandemic and went bankrupt early this year.
“That really would feel like a kick in the nuts at this point,” said buyer Mike Sherman of Denver.
The buyers are residents of a dozen states and include an Omaha philanthropist, a spacecraft engineer from Golden and owners of an organic coffee farm in Hawaii. In interviews with BusinessDen this year, many have cynically assumed their money was lost forever.
Now it appears that all but $75,000 of it will be.
“I think I might get a penny on the dollar back,” said Richard LaPierre, of Texas, who paid a $135,000 deposit for a $673,000 condo at Uptown 240 in early 2019.
“There’s not much else to be said,” he said Tuesday. “It’s just a bad situation.”
On Oct. 19, the failed developers of Uptown 240, Danilo and Chantelle Ottoborgo, asked U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Thomas McNamara to let them sell the property for $12.75 million to 240 Lake Dillon Drive LLC. That LLC is led by Mason Bender, who works in the Denver office of Concord Summit Capital, according to the firm’s website. He told BusinessDen Concord isn’t involved in the deal.
If the new owner builds condos on the property — it is not required to and it’s not known if it will — its purchase agreement requires it give Uptown 240 buyers an opportunity to buy those condos at either full price or, “if determined economically viable,” a discounted price.
“The successful bidder on this has made some suggestion that they might offer previous unit buyers a discount … for people who want to do that,” said LaPierre. “I personally don’t.”
Neither does Sherman. When asked about it, he said, “That place is poison to me.”
$9 million from the sale will go to Michigan-based Porritt Group, which holds Uptown 240’s debt. About $2.2 million will go to builders and suppliers who haven’t been paid for their work on the project. Hilco, which marketed it for sale in recent months, will get $312,000.
Uptown 240 is a partially built condo complex at 240 Lake Dillon Drive in Dillon. (Hilco Real Estate/Vimeo)
Angie Ward, of Denver, deposited $580,000 for a condo at Uptown 240 years ago. This year, she has chaired the Committee of Unsecured Creditors, a panel established by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court to advocate for condo buyers’ best interests.
“The committee has worked very hard to salvage maximum value for all unsecured creditors,” Ward says. “Unfortunately, due to multiple factors, the resulting offer is extremely disappointing and frustrating.”
Ward’s committee wants the Town of Dillon to forfeit some or all of the $123,000 that the town will receive from the sale. Town Manager Nathan Johnson said Tuesday that he was unaware of the committee’s request until BusinessDen asked him about it. That $123,000 is mostly for unpaid water bills and it would hurt town coffers to forfeit it, he noted.
“The committee, without any attempt to contact town officials or advisors, implies the town is to blame for the lack of agreement among the parties to the bankruptcy,” he said.
“While not required to, the town has done everything requested of it and within its lawful authority to remove obstacles to completion of the Uptown 240 project,” such as repeatedly extending permits, Johnson said. “To date, those efforts have been to no avail.”
If Judge McNamara approves, the sale of Uptown 240 will close the book on the Ottoborgos’ attempts to turn their family’s former restaurant property into an eight-story, 80-unit condo complex. Their attorney, Keri Riley, said the Ottoborgos “have every confidence that the prospective buyer will be able to finish this project” and improve Dillon.
To condo buyers like Sherman, who paid $147,000, the Ottoborgos are villains.
“It’s very difficult, a very bitter pill, and I just hope that they never find success in their lives,” he said. “I don’t know how to sugarcoat it. I wish nothing but the worst for them.”
The Uptown 240 development in Dillon is pictured on Oct. 21, 2021. (Libby Standord/Summit Daily)
The proposed sale of a partly built condo complex in Summit County will return only $75,000 to dozens of condo buyers who paid $6 million for units they will never see.
If approved by a judge next month, the sale will be one last disappointment for the men and women who made down payments on 41 condos at Uptown 240 in Dillon and then watched as it sat unbuilt year after year during the pandemic and went bankrupt early this year.
“That really would feel like a kick in the nuts at this point,” said buyer Mike Sherman of Denver.
The buyers are residents of a dozen states and include an Omaha philanthropist, a spacecraft engineer from Golden and owners of an organic coffee farm in Hawaii. In interviews with BusinessDen this year, many have cynically assumed their money was lost forever.
Now it appears that all but $75,000 of it will be.
“I think I might get a penny on the dollar back,” said Richard LaPierre, of Texas, who paid a $135,000 deposit for a $673,000 condo at Uptown 240 in early 2019.
“There’s not much else to be said,” he said Tuesday. “It’s just a bad situation.”
On Oct. 19, the failed developers of Uptown 240, Danilo and Chantelle Ottoborgo, asked U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Thomas McNamara to let them sell the property for $12.75 million to 240 Lake Dillon Drive LLC. That LLC is led by Mason Bender, who works in the Denver office of Concord Summit Capital, according to the firm’s website. He told BusinessDen Concord isn’t involved in the deal.
If the new owner builds condos on the property — it is not required to and it’s not known if it will — its purchase agreement requires it give Uptown 240 buyers an opportunity to buy those condos at either full price or, “if determined economically viable,” a discounted price.
“The successful bidder on this has made some suggestion that they might offer previous unit buyers a discount … for people who want to do that,” said LaPierre. “I personally don’t.”
Neither does Sherman. When asked about it, he said, “That place is poison to me.”
$9 million from the sale will go to Michigan-based Porritt Group, which holds Uptown 240’s debt. About $2.2 million will go to builders and suppliers who haven’t been paid for their work on the project. Hilco, which marketed it for sale in recent months, will get $312,000.
Uptown 240 is a partially built condo complex at 240 Lake Dillon Drive in Dillon. (Hilco Real Estate/Vimeo)
Angie Ward, of Denver, deposited $580,000 for a condo at Uptown 240 years ago. This year, she has chaired the Committee of Unsecured Creditors, a panel established by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court to advocate for condo buyers’ best interests.
“The committee has worked very hard to salvage maximum value for all unsecured creditors,” Ward says. “Unfortunately, due to multiple factors, the resulting offer is extremely disappointing and frustrating.”
Ward’s committee wants the Town of Dillon to forfeit some or all of the $123,000 that the town will receive from the sale. Town Manager Nathan Johnson said Tuesday that he was unaware of the committee’s request until BusinessDen asked him about it. That $123,000 is mostly for unpaid water bills and it would hurt town coffers to forfeit it, he noted.
“The committee, without any attempt to contact town officials or advisors, implies the town is to blame for the lack of agreement among the parties to the bankruptcy,” he said.
“While not required to, the town has done everything requested of it and within its lawful authority to remove obstacles to completion of the Uptown 240 project,” such as repeatedly extending permits, Johnson said. “To date, those efforts have been to no avail.”
If Judge McNamara approves, the sale of Uptown 240 will close the book on the Ottoborgos’ attempts to turn their family’s former restaurant property into an eight-story, 80-unit condo complex. Their attorney, Keri Riley, said the Ottoborgos “have every confidence that the prospective buyer will be able to finish this project” and improve Dillon.
To condo buyers like Sherman, who paid $147,000, the Ottoborgos are villains.
“It’s very difficult, a very bitter pill, and I just hope that they never find success in their lives,” he said. “I don’t know how to sugarcoat it. I wish nothing but the worst for them.”
