IBJNews

Foreclosure washes away water park plans in Fishers

Back to TopCommentsE-mailPrint

Lender Fifth Third Bank has taken ownership of a high-profile piece of land in Fishers, ending a developer’s plans to build a hotel and water park on the site.

Paradise Bay was to have been constructed on the former Britton Golf Course site at State Road 37 and East 131st Street.

The $80 million project, led by Indianapolis-based Puller Group, included plans for a 16-acre water park and 244-room Wyndham Hotel within Fishers Marketplace, a mix of shops, restaurants and offices.

The local office of Cincinnati-based Fifth Third began proceedings to foreclose on the property in July 2009 and attempted to collect nearly $8.6 million owed on the balance of a loan it gave to Puller and H2o Resorts II LLC, an entity formed to develop the hotel and water park.

On Tuesday, the latest hearing on the matter in Hamilton Superior Court was canceled after the Puller Group finally relented on its months-long battle to retain ownership of the land.

Calls to the developer were not returned. But its attorney, Bill Wendling, said his client, considering the difficult commercial real estate environment, was pleased with the foreclosure agreement.

A spokeswoman for Fifth Third said it has “no solidified plans on how the land will be utilized at this time.”

Fifth Third’s decision to foreclose on the property follows similar actions taken by Evansville-based Old National Bank to foreclose on land adjoining Fifth Third’s property.

The 104-acre Fishers Marketplace was to be built on both parcels. Old National owns the southern half and Fifth Third the northern half.

Old National purchased local developer Skjodt Thomas’ piece in December 2009 for $5.9 million during a sheriff’s sale. It since has started infrastructure work on the property to make it more attractive for development.

The bank has hired Thompson Thrift Development Inc. to develop the land and install roads and sewers, which should be finished by April, said Steve McGlothlin, Old National executive vice president.

He said the bank already has received about a half-dozen calls from companies interested in building on the property.

“They’re nothing definitive but they’re beyond speculative,” McGlothlin said of the amount of interest.

Fishers attorney Doug Church said he remains confident the land will eventually be developed. “We continue to see things [developed] up and down that corridor,” he said, “so there’s no reason to think it’s not going to continue.”

Britton Golf Course was built by late Fishers businessman A.W. "Mac" Reynolds in 1986 and sold for about $16 million in 2005. Skjodt Thomas, which purchased the former golf course property and sold 57 acres to Puller Group, had planned to develop its parcel under the Britton Park Development LLC name, with the infrastructure serving both sides.

Work stopped in the summer of 2008 after Britton Park failed to repay a $12.3 million loan it received from Old National, according to a lawsuit filed in 2008 by the lender.

Skjodt Thomas co-owner Paul Skjodt is the owner of the Indiana Ice and the son-in-law of former Indiana Pacers co-owner Melvin Simon, who died in September 2009.

ADVERTISEMENT

  • can you read?
    No one said anything bad about the Simon's numskull. Skjodt is not a Simon and everything said here is true. The guy is a dirtball...period. get a clue TIM.
  • Do Facts Matter?
    You loser bloggers have nothing better to do then comment on articles you know nothing about and about one of most respected families in Indiana. They support multiple foundations and do nothing but give back to the community for the last 30 years. Mr.Skjodt is still very active in the community and your other ignorant comments are not even worth responding to.

    Britton Park never finished the project from the original developer after former ONB Senior V.P Robert Tolle attempted to defraud Britton Park after they agreed to finish the project for the bank.

    He forged their personal signatures on the ONB note from the former developer who bought the property from the Reynolds family. Britton Park pulled out when the fraud was discovered, Robert Tolle was fired and ONB agreed to take the property back. Get your facts straight before making comments about a project you know nothing about.

    Robert Tolle pleaded guilty in September and is serving two years in Federal Prison.
  • Frustrated in Fishers
    Maybe Fishers should think before they change zoning and allow a nice green area and golf course to be torn up and become an eye sore for years. Maybe we need more car dealerships and auto parts stores to help our property value.
  • shifty
    Yep. That guy is as shifty as the day is long. Kinda surprised they haven't nailed him on anything yet to join Laikin and Durham. Only a matter of time.
  • fraud...
    Skjodt was partners with Danny Laikin in Builtmore (crappy) homes and with National Lampoon, and tried to distance himself after the insider trading scandal broke. He is and has been leeching off his wife for years - this joker is no different that Danny.

Post a comment to this story

COMMENTS POLICY
We reserve the right to remove any post that we feel is obscene, profane, vulgar, racist, sexually explicit, abusive, or hateful.
 
You are legally responsible for what you post and your anonymity is not guaranteed.
 
Posts that insult, defame, threaten, harass or abuse other readers or people mentioned in IBJ editorial content are also subject to removal. Please respect the privacy of individuals and refrain from posting personal information.
 
No solicitations, spamming or advertisements are allowed. Readers may post links to other informational websites that are relevant to the topic at hand, but please do not link to objectionable material.
 
We may remove messages that are unrelated to the topic, encourage illegal activity, use all capital letters or are unreadable.
 

Messages that are flagged by readers as objectionable will be reviewed and may or may not be removed. Please do not flag a post simply because you disagree with it.

Sponsored by
ADVERTISEMENT

facebook - twitter on Facebook & Twitter

Follow on TwitterFollow IBJ on Facebook:
Follow on TwitterFollow IBJ's Tweets on these topics:
 
Subscribe to IBJ
  1. So the Mayor adds another non value added layer to having a vehicle towed? Whereby the City Government RECIEVES AN ILLEGAL KICKBACK FROM A LGOISTICS COMPANY THAT SUBS THE WORK TO LOCAL TOW COMPANIES? What is the service the City performs for receiving the "tribute"? This is RICO!!!!! What a corrupt and unnecessary layer. What a dirtbag Mayor and his cronies.

  2. Owner occupied housing. Clear enough?

  3. So people think I am paranoid. It's from experience in dealing with puds requested by developers who make major donations themselves to representatives, have nice fund raisers for those running for office and hide through pac's. then there are the public relation firms. You will note some pr comments below. You there Clyde Lee? My opinion. Commercial along 421, great. Multifamily housing, terrible idea that will change the town. Senior condos or zero lot line homes west, great. I suggest keeping all entries to commercial areas at 421. All entries to owner occupied on sycamore. Will keep the traffic on sycamore down some. Two other things. You can't trust what will be there in 10 years. Steve builds quality stuff, but areas change over time. Look at the changes at the wall mart center at 86th and 421 over the last 10 years. Look at the apartments and neighborhoods behind St Vincent's. Raintree properties WILL decrease in value if commercial and multifamily goes in near. It has already been happening around the bridges area. The houses that have been sold recently are way below market. Several deals not closed due to the Illinois construction and the whole unsurety of the bridges. It's pretty simple, Zionsville will approve the whole thing because the city council has been groomed over a LONG period of time for this. I might even suggest some are in their position as a result of this.

  4. Esta, do you have a dog in this fight? You seem to really want to knock anyone against this project. No, I didn't move to Indiana for the architecture. I moved here for that red barn in the field. The horses and fields of corn. A place that is NOT overdeveloped. There are plenty of nearby places in Indianapolis that could be REDEVELOPED instead.

  5. RKW - OK, we get it, you're paranoid. The question is, are you paranoid enough? Greg - Yes, Pittman(s) is (are) at it again. They are developers, they build things. It's what they do. So when you go to work tomorrow, Greg, you're at it again too. Cliff - Really? You moved to Indiana for its progressive architecture? That's like moving to England for the cuisine. Zionsvillain - The house you moved to was once a field or woods. I'm willing to bet folks were upset when that ground was plowed under and a house was built. But I guess now that you are in, everything should stop? "My house was OK, but the next one is sprawl." SE Guy - Please don't paint us with such a wide brush. Most reasonable Zionsville residents welcome planned, measured development.

ADVERTISEMENT