Academy building under foreclosure, may be auctioned

Former Inn of Crested Butte site now under contract

The former home of the Crested Butte Academy will go to the highest bidder this June—unless buyers for the property are found before that time. The town of Crested Butte received official notice that Wells Fargo is foreclosing on the building last month. The Academy secured financing for its campus in 2006 with assistance from the Town of Crested Butte, which is named on the default notices.

“It’s always a concern once you’ve attached your name to anything,” says Crested Butte town manager Susan Parker. “Having our name still attached to it, I’m not thoroughly convinced that it will have no affect on us.”
One of the school’s former buildings, which are located at Fifth Street and Whiterock Avenue in Crested Butte, may be auctioned on Wednesday, June 25. According to town finance director Lois Rozman, the former non-profit Crested Butte Academy board of trustees has until then to settle the debt.
Coldwell Banker broker associate Eric Roemer, who is listing the properties, says the Inn of Crested Butte property is under contract and another party is in negotiations for the second portion of the property consisting of older buildings. “It’s hard to say what will happen,” Roemer says. He says he doesn’t know what the interested parties intend to do with the property, if it’s purchased.
The Crested Butte Academy is a college preparatory boarding and day school that also offers alpine skiing, freestyle skiing, snowboarding, and high-altitude running. The history of the bonds in question date back to late 2003, when the Academy announced it was declaring Chapter 7 bankruptcy and shutting down.
A bond is a financing mechanism that allows the holder to repay loans at a later date.
One element of the Academy’s former financial problems was finding a lending institution willing to refinance the school’s loan on its Whiterock Avenue campus. Private cash donations and backing from the Gunnison County commissioners and the Crested Butte Town Council pulled the Academy out of bankruptcy in 2004. The two government bodies adopted measures to guarantee the refinance of the loan by a local bank to the Academy for its campus.
In September 2005, the Crested Butte Town Council renewed its commitment to backing the Academy’s loan. The same month, the Academy announced it was launching a major fundraising drive to purchase the Inn at Crested Butte, across the street from the school’s campus, to use as additional common space, along with student and faculty housing.
In April 2006, the Crested Butte Town Council passed an ordinance that authorized the town to issue nearly $4 million in industrial revenue bonds for purchase of the Inn at Crested Butte and refinance the loans on its existing buildings. The town did not incur debt but allowed the Academy to qualify for a lower municipal interest rate.