Texas Resort Avoids Foreclosure
A West Texas resort billed by its owner as an exclusive desert getaway for the rich and famous has filed for federal bankruptcy protection.
The eight-page filing in federal court in Midland on Monday came a day before a Connecticut real estate loan company was set to foreclose on an unpaid $12.5 million loan and sell at auction the 25,000-acre Lajitas, the Ultimate Hideout resort.
According to the Chapter 11 filing, Lajitas Resort Ltd. claims it owes more than $1 million to its top 20 largest unsecured creditors, including about $40,000 to the Golf Channel, a unit of Comcast Corp.The debt to Prime Assets Funding, the Greenwich, Conn., company that lent Lajitas the $12.5 million more than a year ago, was not listed in the filing.
Steve Smith, an Austin multimillionaire, bought the property at auction in 2000 for about $4.5 million. Smith did not return a cell phone message Monday.