How's-It-Going? Category

A prominent brownfield clean-and-build project in downtown Missoula has been put on hold until the economy picks up.

The weed-infested former Champion Mill site just west of Ogren Field, the home of Missoula's minor league baseball team, has long been an example of urban blight and a symbol of the lost glory days of Montana's logging industry.

More than two years ago, local developer Kevin Mytty and finance partner Ed Wetherbee teamed with the Missoula Redevelopment Agency and others to clean the land of its minor environmental contaminants -- basically a lot of sawdust -- and transform it into a vibrant mixed-use neighborhood with houses, apartments, townhouses and space for commercial and retail tenants.

The Utah BLM appears to be going forward with the Dec. 19 sale of oil and gas leases, some of them in the vicinity of national parks, despite objections from environmentalist groups and at least nine Democratic senators.

The Yellowstone Club Debacle

A hard-fought struggle for control of the bankrupt Yellowstone Club ended mid-afternoon on Wednesday when a federal bankruptcy judge gave CrossHarbor Capital Partners, a Boston-based hedge fund, the right to loan the club $20 million while it reorganizes its debt - a process that will likely last until the end of April.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Ralph B. Kirscher issued his order after weeks of negotiations and three days of court testimony.

The Yellowstone Club filed for bankruptcy protection on Nov. 10, citing debts of more than $360 million, with about $311 million owed to investors assembled by international bank Credit Suisse.

Yellowstone Club on the Ropes

A day-long battle over the future of the bankrupt Yellowstone Club played out in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Butte Tuesday, with lender Credit Suisse desperately trying to maintain control of the property and block a financing deal from Boston-based CrossHarbor Capital. While Judge Ralph B. Kirscher did not issue an immediate ruling, he appeared highly skeptical of Credit Suisse's ability to put forward a viable proposal after an interim funding deal fell apart just before the court hearing.

Credit Suisse, one of the world's largest financial institutions, has been unable to come up with the money for a seven-figure loan package that would enable it to keep control of the club and sell the assets. The bank's plan apparently involved mothballing the club while it sought buyers -- a strategy that many involved in the case believe would be a disaster.

CrossHarbor, for its part, has proposed putting up $20 million to keep the club operating through the winter season while a long-term re-organization plan is developed. Club members, some of whom were in court Tuesday and who are understandably eager to see the club remain open, agreed to pitch in another $5 million as part of the CrossHarbor plan.

Saga of the Super-Rich

As Edra Blixseth and the Yellowstone Club return to a U.S. Bankruptcy Court on Tuesday, the central questions will not revolve around paying the club's debts -- but rather miring the club deeper in red ink.

The club's lawyers filed a motion on Monday to ask U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Ralph B. Kirscher to OK a second emergency loan to keep the club operating while in bankruptcy.

Two weeks ago, the club where only the best would do didn't have enough money for propane for heat, or the shuttle to move employees to and from nearby towns, much less enough cash to actually pay those employees, even for one more day.

That's when the club filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in Montana court. Chapter 11 allows a business to remain open while it makes a plan to pay its debts. The filing came in the wake of an ugly divorce between Edra Blixseth and ex-husband Tim, allegations of large-scale financial impropriety and the collapse of the high-end real estate market as well as the credit markets that funded it.

A study released Monday shows that while on average, Montanans have about the same access to the Internet and other electronic media as the rest of the nation, there is a large gap when it comes to the state's most rural places.

The study, by Montana State University professor Richard Wolff and the group Montana Common Cause, shows Montana's metro areas may have access to online services and information but rural areas are vastly underserved, particularly when it comes to options for providers and access to local government services via the Web. Also, while metro counties tend to have access to government services -- many have county or municipal Web sites -- they often don't have suite of services that other local sites in the country offer.

Montana Economy

Montana's unemployment rate has inched upward to a still-healthy 4.8 percent, according to the most recent figures from the Montana Department of Labor and Industry, as every sector but healthcare and hospitality services contracted.

"Overall, Montana has been weathering the economic situation pretty well," said state economist Aaron McNay. "I see Montana following a path similar to the rest of the nation."

Montana's economy, it seems, is slightly better -- or its downturn is delayed -- compared to the national economy. The national unemployment rate in October hit 6.5 percent, up 0.4 percent from the previous month. Montana's rate increased at half that rate, at 0.2 percent. Montana actually added 900 jobs, according to one set of statistics, from September to October.

Energy Policy

The Bush Administration, as part of its effort to lock in policies via administrative rules before leaving office, has put takens steps to open 800 million acres of land in the West to oil shale exploration. The move comes just a few weeks after a moratorium on shale oil leases expired. The independent investigative news site Pro Publica has an in-depth look at an issue that is likely to provoke much controversy in Colorado, Wyoming and Utah for many years to come.

While oil shale has a lot of promise, as detailed by Hal Herring here at NewWest.Net a few months back, it also has potentially immense environmental consequences, and it's not clear it can be extracted in a way that ultimately yields more energy than it consumes.

The Tour de France might come to seem less grueling -- and certainly less murky -- than Greg LeMond's two-year legal fight against the Yellowstone Club, which he resumed this week when he asked a Montana judge to order club owner Edra Blixseth to pay him the final $13.5 million of a $21.5 million settlement, a Bloomberg story says.

The judge granted LeMond's request, but the cycling great, who won the world's top cycling race in 1986, 1989 and 1990, will have to get in line for his money. The Yellowstone Club, which Edra Blixseth only won control of in August after a long and bitter public divorce with former timber executive Tim, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Nov. 10.

In her filing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Butte, Montana, Blixseth tallied the club's debts at about $350 million. The biggest liability is $307 million, not including interest, to Credit Suisse Group. The Zurich-based bank loaned the club $375 million in 2005.

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By Robert Struckman, 11-21-08 | comments (8) | email story | print story

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