Boulder Bay development on North Shore gets cash infusion

The project to transform the look and feel of North Lake Tahoe’s California/Nevada state line by redeveloping the Tahoe Biltmore will move forward after the company overseeing it secured financing in a deal cemented with an undisclosed private equity firm on Thursday, March 12.

Boulder Bay LLC had been struggling to garner the necessary dollars to fund construction of the development ever since it received approval nearly four years ago after a 12-hour Tahoe Regional Planning Agency Governing Board meeting that witnessed more than 80 members of the community offer opinions on the project.

In an exclusive interview with the Sierra Sun, Heather Bacon and Roger Wittenberg, Boulder Bay’s respective president and CEO, shared the news and discussed their eagerness to begin work on the delayed project.

“We still have a lot of work to do,” said Bacon. “But this is a positive step forward for this project and for this community.”

The positive step took place as the real estate development company was up against an April deadline to either move forward or let the project permit expire.

Boulder Bay owed about a half-million dollars in taxes to Washoe County, and the property was scheduled to be auctioned in April unless the payments were met.

Bacon said after her group secured financing, the payments were made to the county.

A representative from the Washoe County Treasurer’s office confirmed the payments had been made and that Boulder Bay is up to date on its property tax obligations.

In April 2014, the development group also faced another deadline, but met its obligations then as well, implementing a water infiltration system aimed at improving water quality on the property.

In his interview with the Sun, Wittenberg said the largest reason for the delay is that banks are reluctant to lend large amounts of capital in the wake of the Great Recession that witnessed such turbulence in the banking industry.

“The banks are basically not in business right now,” he said. “You have to make a relationship with a private equity group. It is fortunate for the country that (private groups) exist and they are moving the ball forward.”

Wittenberg and Bacon said they did not feel comfortable releasing the private equity firm’s name, saying they would leave it to the investors’ discretion as to whether they want publicity.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

GOAL IS TO BREAK INITIAL GROUND THIS MAY

Wittenberg and Bacon said they hope to have a shovel in the ground by May, but the TRPA essentially split the project’s construction schedule into two major phases.

The first is almost strictly focused on the comprehensive water quality improvement project Boulder Bay began working on last year.

TRPA Public Information Officer Tom Lotshaw said the agency is in the final stages of inspecting the project, and whether or not Boulder Bay can move forward with construction six weeks from now is contingent on the development passing muster.

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