City of La Quinta and new developer refute Robert Green’s claim to continue building the long-delayed luxury resort
UPDATE FRIDAY AUG 2, 2024:
The City of La Quinta and Developer Chris George released separate statements Friday refuting developer Robert Green's Thursday comments and taking issue with his right to continue building the Talus properties.
In a statement, George said:
“It was extremely disheartening, although not surprising, to learn of Robert Green’s false and defamatory comments to the media regarding my ‘obligations’ to secured creditors of Talus La Quinta. My record and Mr. Green’s speak for themselves. I continue to work with every Talus lender and the City of La Quinta to develop this project that the citizens of La Quinta have been patiently waiting for. Please note that neither I personally nor any entity affiliated with me are parties to Robert Green’s and the City’s litigation and I will not comment on those pending legal matters."
The City of La Quinta offered a statement saying:
"The City of La Quinta announced that Robert Green Company and SilverRock Development Company LLC (collectively, SDC) are in total breach of a Purchase, Sale and Development Agreement, as amended (PSDA), for the Talus La Quinta project. Due to SDC’s failure to cure, within the allowable time, a critical June 30, 2024, deadline to secure Recapitalization Loans, the City declares that SDC no longer has any rights as “Developer” under the PSDA. The June 30, 2024, deadline, outlined in Amendment No. 5 of the PSDA and reiterated in a May 24, 2024, Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), was not met. Since receiving the City’s July 1, 2024, Notice of Default, SDC has further demonstrated bad faith by: • Unauthorized execution of multiple promissory notes purported to be secured by the real property owned by SDC. • Recording “mechanics liens” against its own property. • Falsely claiming in an August 1, 2024, letter that SDC has the authority to determine that CMG, one of the parties to the MOU has no further rights, liabilities, or obligations under the MOU or PSDA. The City of La Quinta is committed to the successful development of the Talus La Quinta project and will take all necessary steps to protect the interests of the community."
UPDATE THURSDAY AUG 1, 2024:
Developer Robert Green issued a statement Thursday afternoon challenging Chris George's rights to the Talus development, contesting George's agreements with creditors, and reaffirming his plans to recapitalize the La Quinta resort project and finish it himself. Here is his complete statement:
"As stated in our Notice of Termination letter to all participants in the MOU, the MOU automatically terminated yesterday, July 31, 2024 due to Mr. George's failure to pay off "all", or for that matter, "any" of the secured creditors, by that date. We spoke to several of the secured creditors in the days leading up to the termination date, including those who are signatory to the MOU, and several as late as yesterday at the close of business, and, contrary to statements made by Mr. George to the press, none of those creditors have had arrangements made with them by Mr. George for their pay off. In fact several had not even heard from Mr. George in several weeks.
We will now move on from this distraction and delay and get on with the business of recapitalizing Talus and developing the world-class resort we and our investors, lenders and other stakeholders have spend over two hundred million dollars to date to bring to fruition."
- Robert Green of the Robert Green Company
ORIGINAL STORY:
The long-delayed Talus luxury resort development in La Quinta is facing another delay as it struggles to move forward with construction, but its new proposed developer says he's still committed to building the project.
A memorandum of understanding between the city, financiers, and a new potential developer Christopher George of CMG Financial gave George the option to pay off all unpaid obligations for the development by yesterday, July 31.
The debt is owed by its former developers, namely the Silverrock Development Company LLC and the Robert Green Company.
Chris George told News Channel 3's Jeff Stahl on Wednesday that he had reached an agreement with all of the participants of the memorandum of understanding to pay off the prior developer's unpaid debt which would allow him to move forward with building the resort and amenities.
The Robert Green Company had long promised to build the Coachella Valley’s first five-star development, including two branded luxury hotels by Pendry and Montage, a spa and conference center, and 84 turn-key single-family homes and condominiums along with other resort-related commercial services on property south of Avenue 52 and west of Jefferson Street.
Talus was originally set to open in 2019 and was promoted as a crowned jewel development for the city.
The city council reworked the development agreement with Green five times over several years due to financing and building deadlines missed.
George said, however, that liens placed upon the Talus properties by the Silverrock Development Company LLC and Robert Green in July have, "gummed up" the project.
June 30th was the last day the city had given Green to pay off all financial overdue debts and present a plan to get the project moving again.
The City of La Quinta filed a lawsuit last week to force Green to remove those mechanic's liens against several Talus properties.
The city claims in a lawsuit filing Green executed numerous promissory notes purported to be secured by the real property owned by the developer, without the City’s approval and that the actions taken on and after July 1, 2024, intentionally and fraudulently were trying to frustrate and thwart the Memorandum of Understanding.
La Quinta City Manager Jon McMillen also told News Channel 3 Wednesday in a statement, "SilverRock Development Company’s actions after July 1 as alleged in the City’s submitted complaint have stalled this process."
McMillen says the city's filing has been received but has not yet been issued a case number.
George says it will take additional time to clear the legal entanglements and begin construction but he is committed to building the resort out.
"Given the opportunity, I'm going to build that doggone thing out there," George said adding, "The citizens have waited long enough. We've done our research and met with the builders who've been working on the project. I have 42 years of building homes and doing this. Deadlines mean something."
The latest property foreclosure auction notices on Wednesday listed August 6 as the auction dates for two Talus properties. They are now owned by Cypress Point Holdings LLC and Poppy Bank who would sell the properties to satisfy a 45.5 million dollar debt to Cypress Point and a 32.4 million dollar debt to Poppy Bank.
Understand costs and other impacts of Talus La Quinta with online Timeline
