Brad Lutz's inability to make a deal with the "unnamed guarantors" of Kate Wickstrom's mortgage on Sugar Loaf Resort have caused him to pull away from an "option to purchase" agreement he signed in February.

Lutz announced Tuesday that he was sending a letter to Wickstrom indicating that he would not be pursuing his 90-day option to purchase the resort any further because he needs more time to conduct a "due diligence" investigation of the property. Lutz added that he has not given up hope for eventually acquiring the resort, however.

“But we were being asked to dive into a swimming pool without any assurance that there was actually some water in the pool,” Lutz said. “We just weren’t able to accomplish in 90 days what others weren’t able to accomplish in eight years.”

Sugar Loaf Resort has been closed for skiing since March 2000. In 2005, a corporation controlled by ex-convict Remo Polselli sold the resort to Wickstrom through a Florida bank with ties to Polselli’s ex-wife and other Polselli associates. Polselli had been convicted of felony tax evasion charges in connection with one of his downstate properties in 2003 and subsequently served part of a 30-month sentence in federal prison.

“What I learned in trying to deal with Kate” (Wickstrom), Lutz said, ”is that you are really dealing with her bank and, more than that, with the unnamed guarantors of her mortgage.”

Wickstrom has consistently denied that Polselli has played any role in her plans for the resort other than selling it to her.

According to documents in the county Register of Deeds office, TransCapital Bank of Hallandale Beach, Fla., holds the mortgage on Sugar Loaf Resort.

Lutz said that Wickstrom’s arrangements with the “unnamed guarantors” of her mortagage through the Florida bank have apparently prevented Wickstrom from selling the resort for anything less than $5 million –which is why she is now asking $5.7 million for the resort in online real estate listings.

“But that’s an artificial price on the property,” Lutz said. “My appraisals showed that Sugar Loaf Resort is worth considerably less than what the owner is asking. But the bank and the guarantor want to come out ahead, and I’m disappointed that they shot us down on the deals we offered.”

One of the deals Lutz said he offered to Wickstrom’s bank and mortage guarantors was a swap of some property Lutz owns in Colorado which, Lutz says, is worth considerably more than the Sugar Loaf property.

Lutz made his fortune in high technology after selling a business he developed that manufactures and sells computerized time clocks to businesses worldwide.

“If I were truly filthy rich,” Lutz said, “I’d just up and buy the place. But the fact is that any prudent businessman would take an additional 12 to 18 months to put everything in order before closing a deal – and Kate’s backers just won’t let that happen.”

Wickstrom’s attorney, Joe Quandt, said he and his client were disappointed in Lutz’s decision to step away from his option to purchase Sugar Loaf Resort, but Lutz’s action was “not entirely unanticipated,”Quandt said.

“He (Lutz) would like a lot of additional time to do a lot of due diligence, but that is inhibiting Kate’s ability to otherwise market the resort,” Quandt said. “We have encouraged Brad (Lutz) to continue his due diligence with the hope that we may eventually be able to sell him the resort, but some other people have expressed an interest in purchasing the resort and Kate (Wickstrom) will be following up on that,”Quandt said.

“Yes, there have been buyers and rumors of buyers,” Lutz noted “And we wouldn’t want to stand in the way if Kate really has an interested party.”