Up a winding road past grazing cattle, a luxury golf resort at the edge of Coalville boasts badgers, elk and soaring eagles that serve as its namesake – and it’s now reopening under new ownership.

Florida-based investment fund manager EB5AN closed on Wohali in May, and the golf course will reopen later this month.

EB5AN was the bankrupt development’s primary lender and made the only qualified bid on the project. The firm is using $1.8 million in cash and another $65 million in a credit bid – outstanding debt from the original developers – to acquire the partially built luxury golf community, according to the purchase agreement approved by U.S. Bankruptcy Chief Judge Peggy Hunt.

The fund manager has engaged companies to manage the completed golf course and to restart construction of the overall resort, including infrastructure and a village with dense housing. All three plan to work with the city of Coalville to make the project a success.

Mike Schoenfeld, a managing partner with EB5AN, said now that it’s closed on the property, the first step forward is answering key questions about where the development stands.

EB5AN is trying to “unscramble the egg,” he said, to figure out where there are still infrastructure needs and fill those gaps, making things right with Coalville and getting the golf course operating for the year.

“I wish we had the long-term answer,” Schoenfeld said, but they’re still working on the path and vision moving forward.

Coalville Mayor Rory Swensen, who won last year’s election after running on promises of bridging divides and smartly managing the city’s growth, said the city is “working with the new owners of the Wohali project on bankruptcy and development-related issues.” City officials won’t comment until those are resolved, he said.

Little housing complete after millions loaned

EB5AN loaned Wohali Land Estates $79.2 million in 2022. It raised the money from 99 foreign investors via its Wohali Utah Fund XV, according to the company.

Through the federal EB-5 visa program, which aims to inject money and jobs into rural or economically unstable areas, the Wohali fund offered investors eligibility for permanent residency.

EB5AN also gave the original developer another $4.3 million after Wohali owed – but did not have the funds to cover — a $3.3 million payment to a public infrastructure district to help finance roads and other improvements.

These districts allow property owners or developers to issue bonds — in this case, $34.5 million in bonds to expand city sewer and other infrastructure — the way governments do.

By the time the resort was for sale through bankruptcy court, EB5AN said it was owed $86 million.

EB5AN blamed Wohali’s financial straits on slow sales of lots and townhomes, and the developer’s focus on spending for infrastructure and amenities.

On a tour of the course earlier this month, one clump of so-called Corbett cottages was in various stages of construction, and one estate lot had a partially completed home with no active construction.

A practice cabin boasting two 300-piece stained glass windows, Brazilian timber, expensive stone masonry and a South African-made scale model of the community was complete, though, along with the entirety of the mostly maintained golf course.

The two-story cabin opens onto practice areas for putting and driving, and will serve as a makeshift clubhouse.

A soft opening for the golf course

And though Park City billionaire Douglas Bergeron – the developer behind the $65 million Deer Valley mansion featured in the HBO movie ”Mountainhead” and an early possible buyer for Wohali – predicted the course wouldn’t open this year if EB5AN took ownership, there are plans to do so.

Troon Privé, a hospitality services company, is set to oversee day-to-day operations when the course opens later this month. Staff were on site getting the course up to par when The Salt Lake Tribune took a tour.

The Eagle Course is expected to re-open later this month after a soft opening next weekend, welcoming the golf community to experience Wohali through a one-year membership program available to up to 150 people. (The name Wohali comes from a Cherokee word that commonly translates to “eagle.”)

Justin Lake, vice president of operations for Troon, said in a statement that the company is excited about “working with ownership to help Wohali Golf Club realize its full potential.”

Eagle Peak Development will step in to finish remaining work on Wohali Village, the club house and other unfinished part of the development.

The development group, which Schoenfeld cofounded, helped fund developments at Tamarack Resort in Idaho and the Snake River Sporting Club about 30 miles south of Jackson Hole. It also is the primary developer for Currahee Club, a residential community in northern Georgia that’s similar to plans for Wohali.

Bobby Masters, Eagle Peak’s head of development, said in a statement that his immediate focus is on completing Wohali’s infrastructure and repairing the resort’s relationship with Coalville.

Coalville, Schoenfeld said, “made a big bet on this development.”

After EB5AN and its partners fix infrastructure problems and other issues, Schoenfeld said, they’ll work to see what the firm and Coalville both need to get the full development going again.

That might mean some changes, he said, but there is no intent to make it a large neighborhood that adds a ton of extra density to an otherwise rural part of Summit County.

“We’re not trying to put in something that doesn’t fit with the area,” Schoenfeld said.

EBAN5 doesn’t own the entirety of the property. Thousands of acres of backcountry east of the final holes are still under dispute with Boyden Farms and claims from the Utah Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands.

Masters said few developments have Wohali’s underlying qualities.

“Wohali is one of the most beautiful pieces of land and one of the most unique opportunities I’ve come across in my career,” he said.