Reptile & Amphibian Forums

As reported in the local Alpine paper last Thursday June 28th, Lajitas is going up for auction tomorrow 7/3/07. It seems they have defaulted on a 12.5 million note. They were given a one month extension by the lending institution, but failed to make payment.

DB

It's too bad we can't turn the clock back to pre-renovation days and have the ol' general store back. The whole place was better years ago. I used to like swimming in the pool at 3AM on those 100F River Road nights. Hopefully some Kleinfelter doesn't take over where the current owners left off.

AMEN Damon!!! Are we gong to see you in Daytona???

Wayne

I definitely think it should revert to what it was in the late 70s - buy it cheap and make a herp resort...'Where No Stone is Unturned'.

but what the heck is a Kleinfelter?

I believe I can figure it out, so no real need to reply.

Buy it for us, DOug.

JH

Let me talk with my attorney who is "HERP" friendly! He may be interested! Would this be cool or what??? Herpers own Lajitas!

Wayne

like john said doug, buy it.

I am glad to hear this!!! Now maybe the every day average Joe (such as myself) can enjoy lodging in Lajitas again!! I cannot think of better news to hear,...........other can catching my first River Road alterna of course!

Wayne H.

It seems like every so often a new person picks it up with grand ideas on making money down there only to realize that it not as easy as "build it and they will come".. It used to be a place that herpers could afford even if just barely, last time I asked I think it was like $175 / night in the off season when we would want to stay. I have been afraid to ask again for years.

I went back up and stayed in Terlingua at the Easter Egg..

And the renovations ruined the character of that place anyway.

Lance

A few years ago the firm or people or whatever that managed Lajitas actually tried to put a gate on FM 170 to keep traffic out at night... Not at the point of installing anything, but at the point of planning it.

Terlingua and Study Butte had fit and pointed out that you cannont just gate off a state road like that.

Lance

That led to plan B that also did not come to fruition. They were going to pay for 170 to be re-routed around town so they could close off the existing road. I believe that some studies were done and some sort of monetary amount was agreed upon w/ the state. The fact that it did not come to pass was perhaps the first clue that he was running out of money.

DB

They have always tried to spend money on either a waste of time or just to piss of the people that have lived there for generations.

Ask any local that way about Lajitas and I bet you would get a colorful response...

Lance

Looks like Steve Smith, formerly of Excel Communications, Everyday Wealth and the Lajitas Ultimate Hideaway (or whatever he called it) should find a more appropriate line of work. I hear that Miss Tracy's in Study Butte is hiring dishwashers ... y'all have a safe 4th.
-----
Bill Cope
O'Brien, FL

I think the HCU, or HUC or whatever should buy it...members chipping in to pay the mortgage...Wayne has deep pockets.

Looks like we're stuck with Steve Smith a little longer.
________________________________________________________

July 2, 2007, 8:20PM
Big Bend resort avoids foreclosure with bankruptcy
court filing

By ALICIA A. CALDWELL Associated Press Writer
© 2007 The Associated Press

EL PASO, Texas — A West Texas resort billed by its
owner as an exclusive desert getaway for the rich and
famous filed for federal bankruptcy protection Monday.

The eight-page filing in federal court in Midland 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. 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.

Last year he told The Associated Press that his goal
was to create a luxury resort that appealed to the
extremely wealthy. The remote location would be part
of the draw, he said. Lajitas sits on a rugged stretch
of desert at the Mexican border between Big Bend Ranch
State Park and Big Bend National Park and more than
250 miles from the nearest commercial airport.

The development plan included a golf course expansion,
a state-of-the-art clubhouse, and a housing
development that would eventually include about 1,000
high-end properties. The resort recently added daily
flights from Austin and Dallas aboard a private plane.
According to the Lajitas Web site, flights start at
$399 a person.

Last year the resort had sold only five condominiums
and fewer than a dozen homes.

Frank Harrison, a managing member of Prime Assets
Funding, said he understood about $9 million worth of
real estate had been sold at Lajitas, though he did
not know how many homes and condos had been sold.

Harrison said his company made the loan to Lajitas
last year presuming that it was a good investment. But
after more than a year with no payments being made and
no hope that the loan would be repaid, the company
moved forward with plans to foreclose on the loan and
sell the property at auction.

"I really just want to get my money back," Harrison
said.

Harrison said the bankruptcy filing was not a
surprise.

It's unclear what affect the bankruptcy filing will
have on property owners in Lajitas.

www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/4939277.html

Unfortunately the big losers will be the unsecured creditors as they will see extremely little if any of the money that is currently owed to them. Chapter 11 under the bankruptcy code allows for "reorganization" and relief from creditors until a reorganization plan is formed. Let's face it, no plan of reorganization is going to make this pig fly. It still remains a boondoggle of ridiculous proportion.

IMO this bankruptcy is just a delay in the inevitable. The unsecured creditors will get nada and someone will buy the place for pennies on the dollar. Maybe someone w/ some realistic ideas and price structure will end up w/ Lajitas.

Apparently either Smith is not as wealthy as reported or he has gotten tired of throwing good money after bad.

DB

I despise what he has done to the place. However, he protects the desert by keeping tourism to a minimum.

>>I despise what he has done to the place. However, he protects the desert by keeping tourism to a minimum.

He cut some nice roads right up into the hills north of town. I'm going to watch closely what happens to that town, if they have a fire sale I may be in line for a lot in those hills. They'd have to be quite a bit more affordable though.