Sugar Loaf control still clouded in mystery?
Katofsky owns resort; Polselli associate holds the mortgage
By Jacob Wheeler
Sun editor
Jeff Katofsky, the California real estate attorney and developer, is the undisputed owner of Sugar Loaf resort: that is clear. Sweet Bread L.L.C—which Katofsky told the Glen Arbor Sun is owned 100 percent by him and his wife—acquired the long-shuttered ski resort on Nov. 14, 2016, from 4500 Investments, L.L.C, which is controlled by Remo Polselli.
The sales price was near the market amount, Katofsky confirmed, “way more than twice the $3 million amount” previously reported. Sugar Loaf was listed for $8.72 million last summer.
But the identity of who controls the mortgage to the Leelanau County destination has remained a mystery. Until now.
Katofsky’s corporation got a $6 million mortgage from a Kalispell, Montana, corporation called “Farmer’s Merchant Capital, L.L.C.”, which was registered on Oct. 25, three weeks before Sugar Loaf was officially sold.
A principle information request through the Montana Secretary of State office revealed that Farmer’s Merchant Capital, located at 1001 S. Main Street, Ste 500, in Kalispell (a city of 22,000 near Glacier National Park), is managed by Anna Sigurdson. Here’s the document:
A Google search of Sigurdson shows her to be an associate of Polselli, under whose ownership Sugar Loaf has languished since 2000. Sigurdson and Polselli both faced criminal charges last July due to code violations at the resort’s decrepit lodge; Sigurdson answers the phones for Polselli at New California Hotels Corporation (onetime Sugar Loaf suitor Liko Smith also worked out of that office); Sigurdson also registered Polselli’s company Resort America L.L.C. in Florida last August, and a host of other Troy, Mich.-based companies that list the same address as L.L.C.s owned by both Remo Polselli and Hanna Karcho Polselli.
Sigurdson answered a phone call yesterday at New California Hotels, and when this reporter asked to speak to her by name, and not Polselli, she became audibly flustered, placed the call on hold for two minutes, then hung up.
For weeks, Leelanau County government officials, private citizens, as well as the Leelanau Enterprise (the county’s weekly paper of record) have speculated whether Polselli was still involved in Sugar Loaf. The Enterprise cited county officials in reporting last week that Polselli “holds the paper” on the resort and is underwriting Katofsky’s mortgage. Those officials pushed back on that newspaper report. County administrator Chet Janik said, “I can’t confirm or deny that Remo is involved.”
But that was before the Sun told Janik and code inspector Steve Haugen that Sigurdson’s name is on the mortgage, linking it to Polselli.
In a phone interview last week, Polselli vehemently denied any current connection to Sugar Loaf, or knowledge of who Katofsky’s lenders are.
“I’m out of it. I’ve got nothing to do with it,” Polselli said, denying reports that he was connected to the mortgage. “I haven’t been there in 15 years. This is all behind me.”
Polselli professed deep professional respect for Katofsky, who sued him for the rights to two southeast Michigan hotels, in Romulus and St. Clair, as well as Sugar Loaf.
“He’s a very shrewd, a tough lawyer, and a multimillionaire. Someone you don’t want to eff with,” said Polselli. “He does do what he says he’s gonna do. He has the wherewithal to reopen Sugar Loaf, and I hear he has very good relationships in Michigan.”
“He’s not gonna bullshit anyone. He under-promises and over-delivers.”
Katofsky is redeveloping the former Metropolitan Hotel in Romulus (near Detroit Metro Airport) and the St. Clair Inn. He has said that he intends to turn Sugar Loaf into a year-round luxury resort, but that construction won’t begin for at least two years.
Lender not important?
“I don’t care who the lender is,” said Katofsky, who all but shrugged when told that Sigurdson is the titular holder of the mortgage in Montana. “It doesn’t have any effect on me unless I were to default.”
Katofsky added that his court settlement with Polselli last year stipulated that Sugar Loaf’s previous owner would have to initially carry the paper on all three deals (including Romulus and St. Clair).
“You can’t finance vacant, shuttered deals,” explained Katofsky. “We took him out (of the financial picture) within 90 days in Romulus, and we’re about to do so in St. Clair.” Katofsky’s implication is that the same could happen with Sugar Loaf.
“My guess is that Remo presold the paper to that group in Montana. It’s likely a private investor and not an institutional investor. Banks want you to have each deal in a single-purpose, standalone entity.”
Katofsky said that he’d seek an institutional investor for Sugar Loaf. He said that his loans in Romulus and St. Clair are 8-digit loans. “The loans we’ll have for Sugar Loaf will be complicated, and involve some government aspect to it, but a bank loan, too. There may be two or three tiers of eight-digit bank loans.”
Katofsky told the Sun he is leaning heavily toward adding a partner from St. Clair to Sweet Bread, L.L.C, which owns Sugar Loaf.
“He is someone who has visited (Leelanau County). He’s not a money partner, but a work partner.”
Katofsky said he is overwhelmed by the amount of media attention, the vitriol and immediate expectations surrounding Sugar Loaf.
“People are tired and want something fast. But I can’t fix what didn’t happen for 16 years. I can’t put Humpty Dumpty back together again by next week,” he said.
“I don’t expect all press to be good press. But if I don’t get some support from the community, then I’m not going to leave my family every week (in California, to fly to Michigan). I intend to make a profit out there, but I need some support.”
Looming dates for code violations
County code inspector Haugen has set two looming dates for Katofsky to fix code violations at Sugar Loaf’s decrepit and decaying ski lodge. “He has until March 1 to move the process forward, and until May 1 to have it finished,” said Haugen. “Jeff told me he has no problems with the deadlines. He is talking to a fence company, and they called me (yesterday).”
According to Haugen, the resort owner has three options: to bring the building up to code, to tear it down completely, or to board up windows and entrances. Only the third is considered a viable option in the near future.
“I believe this guy (Katofsky) is on the up and up,” said Haugen.
Liko was Remo’s horse
During a phone interview last week, Polselli confirmed what many had long suspected: previous Sugar Loaf suitor, and enigmatic con artist Liko Smith was his stooge.
“I picked Liko Smith,” said Polselli. “But I picked the wrong horse. I thought he had connections. He had given me the name of a foreign player. Honestly, he did great con job on me.
“But I didn’t pick Katofsky (to buy Sugar Loaf). Jeff Katofsky is a straight, family guy who won’t do anything crazy. He’s been to the property, he researched property. He has relationships with people in Michigan. He’s a good businessman.”
