Is Sugar Loaf deed transfer imminent?

By Jacob Wheeler
Sun editor

Who owns Sugar Loaf resort, the long-shuttered ski resort in the heart of Leelanau County? The answer is complex, because the holder of the deed to the property doesn’t appear to be the one actually calling the shots.

Former owner Kate Wickstrom has been waiting for over a year and a half — since March 18, 2013, she says — for Remo Polselli to officially transfer the deed back into his name through the Leelanau County Register of Deeds office. Through his share in “Rock Investment Advisors, LLC” Polselli owns Sugar Loaf, he told the Glen Arbor Sun in February. Realtor John Peppler, who represents Polselli, lists the resort for $8.72 million. However, the Leelanau Enterprise reported early this month that Sugar Loaf could be sold for as little as $1.3 million at a “sheriff’s auction” on Nov. 21 at the Leelanau County Government Center. That’s the amount owed on a mortgage held by Talmer Bank & Trust of Southfield.

Reached on his cell phone, Polselli told the Sun today that the sheriff’s auction is an “effort to clear the deed”. He expects the deed to officially transfer into his name “within a couple weeks”.

The Sun has learned that last week the Leelanau County Register of Deeds office received documents from a title company in Troy to record the deed transfer. But Register of Deeds Dorothy Miller reportedly found errors in the paperwork, including discrepancies between Wickstrom’s signatures in the documentation from March 2013 and now. The signatures may have been forged. Miller confirmed that, as of today, the deed to Sugar Loaf has not been transferred.

A complaint about the allegedly forgery has been filed with the Leelanau County Sheriffs Department.

Stay tuned for further updates.