Steamboat Resort Owner Defaults on Loans

STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, CO-Maine-based American Skiing Co. real estate subsidiary, American Skiing Co. Resort Properties Inc., is in default of its senior secured credit facility with Fleet National Bank and other lenders, according to a Securities & Exchange Commission filing examined by GlobeSt.com. American Skiing, a penny stock trading under the symbol AESK on the Over the Counter Bulletin Board, owns the Steamboat Springs resort in Colorado.

The SEC 8-K filing notes the real estate subsidiary failed to make certain required payments of principal and interest ”and all cure periods with respect to such payment default had expired.”

Attorneys notified the real estate company it would accelerate the entire remaining principal and accrued interest of $63.4 million owed to the Fleet group.

American Skiing is still negotiating the terms of modifications with Fleet, although there is no assurance a settlement can be reached.

Fleet could foreclose on property owned by American Skiing and pledged to the lenders, including its Grand Summit Resort hotel, according to the filing.

”A substantial portion of the company’s developable real estate, including all of the developable real estate at the Canyons resort in Park City, Utah and certain key development parcels at Killington, VT, and Steamboat, CO is pledged to Fleet and the lenders under the Real Estate Credit Facility,” according to the filing.

In addition, American Skiing is in default on construction loan with Textron Financial Corp., according to the SEC documents.

However, American says Textron has orally notified the company that it has tentatively approved revisions to their agreements that would be sufficient to cure the outstanding payment defaults.

All of the company’s remaining unsold quarter-share hotel inventory at the Grand Summit Hotels at The Canyons and Steamboat, together with the commercial units at the Grand Summit Hotels at The Canyons, Steamboat and Attitash, NH, are pledged to Textron and the other lenders as security for the Textron loan facility.

Despite all of the technical defaults, the company says it doesn’t expect them to adversely affect current operations at its resorts.