The highest of two bids for the 800-acre plus Aspen Valley Ranch, which was advertised for $220 million in May 2020, came in at $28.5 million during a privately conducted virtual auction on Wednesday, according to bankruptcy court records, the Aspen Daily Ranch reported. The winning bid was placed by the lenders who initiated a foreclosure action on the ranch property in March, citing an outstanding debt of $88.2 million, an amount that has since grown past $100 million with interest. The loan was given to Charif Souki, who developed the property and pledged it as collateral. Aspen Valley Ranch, however, declared chapter 11 bankruptcy in late July, icing the lenders’ run at a foreclosure auction in Pitkin County. An auction was held nonetheless this week and conducted by Aspen Valley Ranch following months of written and oral arguments in the bankruptcy case about the terms of the auction and bidding process. As secured creditors, the lenders prevailed in the closed auction with a “credit bid,” meaning that amount would be applied to the balance owed by Souki, who led a group of investors that bought the ranch for $27 million in 2013, before it was developed into a family retreat and a neighborhood of luxury homes.
