A proposed $12.5 million purchase by Wyndham International Inc. of Sunterra Corp.’s Carambola Beach Resort on St. Croix has fallen through.
Wyndham had a 30-day due-diligence period beginning Aug. 17 to study details of the purchase before a hearing on the sale in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Baltimore on Thursday. Wyndham backed out of the deal before the hearing, according to the V.I. Daily News.
Calls over the last week to Fred Stern, Wyndham International’s vice president for corporate communications, were not returned, nor were calls to Sunterra’s corporate headquarters in Florida.
Sunterra, the world’s largest vacation ownership company with more than 2,000 employees and sales agents worldwide, filed for bankruptcy May 31. In early August the Carambola resort laid off about 20 people. It currently has a workforce of about 140 at the 28-acre, 150-room resort.
The company has been marketing the property since April. Wyndham International, which owns the 300-room Wyndham Sugar Bay Beach Club and Resort on St. Thomas, submitted the highest bid.
Wyndham formerly owned the Renaissance Grand Beach Resort on St. Thomas and the Westin Resort on St. John.
Sunterra purchased the Carambola property in 1997 from the Westin Corp. for $13 million. Since then, it has sold a number of time-share interests at the resort that have increased its balance-sheet value to $13.3 million.
According to bankruptcy court documents, Sunterra owes more than $34,000 to local businesses, the majority of it to two contractors. The V.I. government claims the company owes $57,000 in property taxes, which Sunterra disputes.
