Sugar Loaf: a tale of various narratives
By Jacob Wheeler
Sun editor
Who’s to blame for the 20-month delay in transferring the title of Sugar Loaf resort from former owner Kate Wickstrom back to “new” owner Remo Polselli?
The quit claim deed transfer was finally recorded with Leelanau County on Nov. 25. Rock Investment Advisors now controls the once popular ski resort in the heart of Leelanau County, which has been closed since 2000.
Polselli is the only known player behind Rock Investment Advisors. He owned the resort until selling to Wickstrom in 2004, but together with wife Hanna Karcho, secretly guaranteed the mortgage on the property.
Polselli suggested to the Leelanau Enterprise this week that Wickstrom was to blame for the lengthy delay. Here’s what the weekly paper reported in its Dec. 10 edition: “Polselli said he knew that Wickstrom was ‘passionate’ about making a go of Sugar Loaf, but just lacked the tools to do so in a difficult market. He said there was a delay in getting a deed transfer properly recorded because Wickstrom did not want to miss out on a potential windfall once a sale of the resort was consummated.”
But Wickstrom received a contract to transfer the deed — from her to Polselli — back in March 2013. She signed the transfer on March 20, 2013. In November 2013, she showed this reporter a copy of that quit claim deed contract. Wickstrom had received the transfer agreement via her Traverse City-based attorney Joe Quandt. She said that Polselli paid legal fees associated with the transfer.
Instead, Wickstrom waited 20 months to legally divorce her name from Sugar Loaf.
Three’s the charm
The deed transfer that Leelanau County registered on Nov. 25 was the third attempt to legally move the property from Wickstrom back to Polselli. The March 2013 contract represented the first attempt. A second quit claim deed that County Register of Deeds Dorothy Miller received last month bore a signature of Wickstrom’s name that was allegedly forged.
The FBI briefly looked into the forgery — ostensibly because Rock Investment Advisors was formed in Nevada, and Polselli is based in California — but soon dropped the case. The Leelanau County sheriff’s department turned its own investigation over to the prosecuting attorney’s office for review.
A prosecution may be unlikely. It would depend on a forger’s alleged intent to defraud. Since the deed was ultimately transferred, Wickstrom’s forged signature may suggest a clerical error rather than a deliberate deception.
What’s under the Rock?
Rock Investment Advisors is now the official owner of Sugar Loaf. Local media outlets, including this publication, understand that to be Remo Polselli. Polselli confirmed his stake in Sugar Loaf, through Rock, in an interview with the Sun in February.
But last week Polselli denied to this reporter that he owned Sugar Loaf. Rock Investment Advisors is the owner, he said, but wouldn’t reveal who might be partners or co-investors in the corporation.
Leelanau County Construction Code Authority Steve Haugen has spoken to Polselli about Sugar Loaf on a near weekly basis for many, many months.
In the Dec. 3 interview with the Sun, Polselli added that potential buyers in recent months haven’t had anywhere close to the money needed to purchase Sugar Loaf — an apparent contradiction of numerous claims that a sale of the resort was imminent. Polselli said that, over the years, he and Hanna Karcho have spent upwards of $10 million on Sugar Loaf.
Realtor John Peppler currently lists Sugar Loaf for $8.7 million.
