(ADAM PROSKIW / iNFOnews.ca)
June 08, 2016 - 8:00 PM
'HE'S NOT SELLING THE PROPERTY BECAUSE HE INTENDS TO DEVELOP IT'
KELOWNA – Mark Consiglio has six months to pay back millions of dollars to investors or Kelowna Mountain will go up for sale.
That’s according to a Supreme Court judge who says Consiglio owes just under $4.5 million for Lot A, a 160-acre parcel of land that includes the entrance to the property.
Consiglio had until June 9 to pay back the 2009 loan after which he is allowed a six-month redemption period.
An investor group of roughly 30 people who have been waiting years for their money are so sure repayment won’t happen they requested that a judge force Consiglio to sell Lot A this week instead of waiting the six months.
“These defendants cannot pay their debts when they come due,” the group's lawyer Roy Sommerey said in court today, June 8. “We don’t know what Mr. Consiglio can pull out of his hat. All three parcels on Kelowna Mountain are in foreclosure.”
Consiglio’s lawyer, Reinhard Burke, says all money will be repaid within the six-month redemption period allowed by law. All money owed, he says, will be available by September when a project in Vancouver is completed.
“He’s not selling the property because he intends to develop (it),” Burke said.
Consiglio had planned to turn portions of all three lots, which comprise more than 600 acres in the Upper Mission, into a $100 million wine park complete with ski hill, amphitheater, indoor vineyards, suspension bridges, boardwalk, cliff walk, a waterfall and a man-made lake. He claims to have spent more than $50 million already, despite the Regional District's refusal to grant development permits.
Consiglio is also being sued by several other investor groups who say he owes them an additional $10 million.
"This is a hard fought, knock ‘em down, drag ‘em out lawsuit,” Justice Gordon Weatherill said. “This is not your average foreclosure proceeding.”
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