A FedEx distribution center is part of the bankrupt Gunnison Rising project just east of Gunnison, Colorado. (Mariel Wiley/The Gunnison Country Times)
Weeks before a judge was to decide whether Colorado developers must pay millions to a contractor at a $130 million mountain town development, the project went bankrupt.
Gunnison Rising, just east of the town of Gunnison, is expected to have 1,700 housing units and 920,000 square feet of commercial space on 620 acres when complete. Only a FedEx warehouse and U.S. Bureau of Land Management office are there now.
Gunnison Rising is being developed by Byron Chrisman, a retired real estate attorney and real estate investor in Louisville, and Dick Bratton, a Gunnison lawyer. Much of its outside funding to date, at least $10 million, has been provided by CIBC Private Wealth in Denver.
The project encountered problems in 2023, two years after breaking ground. It took nearly a year to connect the FedEx distribution center to power, requiring it to run on generators, and upheavals in the credit market left it unable to obtain metro district bond money.
“As a result of interest rate fluctuations over the last couple of years, Gunnison Valley Properties was unable to sell those bonds,” the development group said. “Nevertheless, infrastructure work is necessary and GVP has been unable to find other sources of capital to fund that.”
Construction companies who worked on Gunnison Rising before its funding dried up say they have been caught in the middle. That includes Dietrich Dirtworks, a family-owned excavation business in Crested Butte that claims it is owed about $4 million for its work there.
“It almost put us under,” owner Rask Dietrich said of his company not being paid.
“We didn’t know what we were going to do. I can’t tell you how many sleepless nights there were,” he said Tuesday. “Very, very tough. I think you can understand, I’m choking up a little bit because of the severity of it — of what that did to a small company such as ourself.”
The U.S. Bureau of Land Management field office at the Gunnison Rising development. (Bella Biondini/Gunnison Country Times)
Three contractors sued Gunnison Rising’s developers last year, seeking payment for their work. Two of them, Spallone Construction in Gunnison and Wesco Distribution, a supplier in Denver, settled with Gunnison Valley Properties this year. Dietrich Dirtworks did not.
Jurors were scheduled to decide the case later this month. Both Dietrich and Gunnison Valley Properties asked Gunnison County District Court Judge Kellie Starritt to resolve the dispute instead. Starritt said that she would make her decision in mid-September.
But that came to a halt on Aug. 28, when Gunnison Valley Properties went bankrupt.
“Because of mounting expenses and related litigation with certain contractors, GVP in consultation with its legal counsel and other advisors has determined that it is in the best interest of all stakeholders to voluntarily seek reorganization protection under Chapter 11 of the bankruptcy code,” the company said in a news release on Tuesday.
“The reorganization process is intended to allow GVP to pay all outstanding creditors, acquire additional capital and get back to building Gunnison Rising,” the statement said.
Gunnison Valley Properties has debts of $42 million and values its property at $87 million. Aside from CIBC and its developers, GVP’s top creditors are Independent Bank in Texas ($2.7 million) and Gunnison Bank and Trust ($1.5 million). It disputes owing Dietrich $4 million.
Bankruptcies automatically and indefinitely pause litigation. Not to be deterred, Dietrich Dirtworks is asking U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Joseph Rosania to lift that pause and allow Judge Starritt in Gunnison to decide the case in her court. A hearing is set for Oct. 8.
As for Dietrich, the company and its 30 employees are bruised but still in business.
“Luckily we’re still busy and we’re a good company, so we were able to stay afloat, barely, by getting loans,” Rask Dietrich said by phone. “I had to take out a small loan against my house, I had to take out private loans. I can’t tell you what it’s done to me and my family.”
A FedEx distribution center is part of the bankrupt Gunnison Rising project just east of Gunnison, Colorado. (Mariel Wiley/The Gunnison Country Times)
Weeks before a judge was to decide whether Colorado developers must pay millions to a contractor at a $130 million mountain town development, the project went bankrupt.
Gunnison Rising, just east of the town of Gunnison, is expected to have 1,700 housing units and 920,000 square feet of commercial space on 620 acres when complete. Only a FedEx warehouse and U.S. Bureau of Land Management office are there now.
Gunnison Rising is being developed by Byron Chrisman, a retired real estate attorney and real estate investor in Louisville, and Dick Bratton, a Gunnison lawyer. Much of its outside funding to date, at least $10 million, has been provided by CIBC Private Wealth in Denver.
The project encountered problems in 2023, two years after breaking ground. It took nearly a year to connect the FedEx distribution center to power, requiring it to run on generators, and upheavals in the credit market left it unable to obtain metro district bond money.
“As a result of interest rate fluctuations over the last couple of years, Gunnison Valley Properties was unable to sell those bonds,” the development group said. “Nevertheless, infrastructure work is necessary and GVP has been unable to find other sources of capital to fund that.”
Construction companies who worked on Gunnison Rising before its funding dried up say they have been caught in the middle. That includes Dietrich Dirtworks, a family-owned excavation business in Crested Butte that claims it is owed about $4 million for its work there.
“It almost put us under,” owner Rask Dietrich said of his company not being paid.
“We didn’t know what we were going to do. I can’t tell you how many sleepless nights there were,” he said Tuesday. “Very, very tough. I think you can understand, I’m choking up a little bit because of the severity of it — of what that did to a small company such as ourself.”
The U.S. Bureau of Land Management field office at the Gunnison Rising development. (Bella Biondini/Gunnison Country Times)
Three contractors sued Gunnison Rising’s developers last year, seeking payment for their work. Two of them, Spallone Construction in Gunnison and Wesco Distribution, a supplier in Denver, settled with Gunnison Valley Properties this year. Dietrich Dirtworks did not.
Jurors were scheduled to decide the case later this month. Both Dietrich and Gunnison Valley Properties asked Gunnison County District Court Judge Kellie Starritt to resolve the dispute instead. Starritt said that she would make her decision in mid-September.
But that came to a halt on Aug. 28, when Gunnison Valley Properties went bankrupt.
“Because of mounting expenses and related litigation with certain contractors, GVP in consultation with its legal counsel and other advisors has determined that it is in the best interest of all stakeholders to voluntarily seek reorganization protection under Chapter 11 of the bankruptcy code,” the company said in a news release on Tuesday.
“The reorganization process is intended to allow GVP to pay all outstanding creditors, acquire additional capital and get back to building Gunnison Rising,” the statement said.
Gunnison Valley Properties has debts of $42 million and values its property at $87 million. Aside from CIBC and its developers, GVP’s top creditors are Independent Bank in Texas ($2.7 million) and Gunnison Bank and Trust ($1.5 million). It disputes owing Dietrich $4 million.
Bankruptcies automatically and indefinitely pause litigation. Not to be deterred, Dietrich Dirtworks is asking U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Joseph Rosania to lift that pause and allow Judge Starritt in Gunnison to decide the case in her court. A hearing is set for Oct. 8.
As for Dietrich, the company and its 30 employees are bruised but still in business.
“Luckily we’re still busy and we’re a good company, so we were able to stay afloat, barely, by getting loans,” Rask Dietrich said by phone. “I had to take out a small loan against my house, I had to take out private loans. I can’t tell you what it’s done to me and my family.”
