In 2018, when BoiseDev broke news that a new owner scooped up most of the assets of the Tamarack Resort near Donnelley, we told you that new owner Imperium Blue only snagged three of the 18 golf course holes in the deal.
The Osprey Meadows course no longer hosts golfers. Instead of lush green fairways, the land remains brown and desert-like. After the well-publicized challenges at the resort, the course closed and maintenance stopped.
In 2019, the new owners of Tamarack sued the group that owned the remaining 15 golf holes. The suit, which went previously unreported, quietly worked its way through the court system.
Court case decided
Now, there’s a decision – and it could tee up the future of the course.
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Tamarack Mountain Operations, the holding company formed by Imperium Blue to run the resort, sued Idaho-Pacific Investments. Idaho-Pacific owns that 15-hole chunk of the course, and TMO said it had a legal option to buy the land, putting the course entirely under one ownership – along with the rest of the resort.
After a complicated set of arguments dating back to agreements made by prior owners in 2015, Fourth District Judge Jason D. Scott ruled in favor of Idaho-Pacific, and against Tamarack Mountain Operations.
“My partner and I made a significant investment in this property before TMO purchased the resort. I have been a homeowner at Tamarack for the past 15 years. My family and I cherish our trips to Idaho and have created some amazing memories,” Idaho-Pacific’s Perry Spataro said in a note to BoiseDev.
“We are disappointed with the court’s ruling that prevents Tamarack Resort from exercising the purchase option on the remaining 15 holes of Osprey Meadows, as it was the quickest method to allow us to move forward on restoring the golf course,” Tamarack Resort President Scott Turlington wrote in a statement provided to BoiseDev.
Next phase
So what’s next? In 2018, we reported that Idaho-Pacific representative TJ Angstman, who represented the company in the lawsuit, said it wasn’t a matter of “whether we will work together to bring golf back to Tamarack, but how.”
Since golf courses don’t generally feature 15 (or three) holes, the two sides both hint at a deal to put Osprey Meadows back together.
“It is our hope and desire to work with the Tamarack community and the resort owner on a redevelopment plan that will also bring the Osprey Meadows Golf course back to life,” Spataro said.
Turlington echoed the sentiment.
“The ruling… does not change the fact that Tamarack remains committed to working in good faith with the party that acquired the 15 holes in 2017 in order to allow either party to move forward on restoring and reopening the golf course,” he said.
Idaho-Pacific told BoiseDev Monday it has been in contact with TMO.
Disclosure: Tamarack is a BoiseDev sponsor through a local ad agency. The resort did not have a role in the selection or production of this story.
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