Andre Agassi, Steffi Graf bag Tamarack hotel plans

Star tennis couple Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf and some other investors have terminated a contract to buy property at Tamarack Resort for a proposed luxury hotel, citing unresolved court cases and market conditions.

Agassi and Graf, who are married, had been among investors planning to build a 300-unit hotel at the resort in Donnelly, 100 miles north of Boise. Fairmont Hotels and Resorts, based in Toronto, was to manage the project.

The departure of their marquee names is the latest dour news for this once high-flying ski, golf and lakefront destination, where President Bush vacationed in 2005. It has been hurt by the collapsing demand for luxury Rocky Mountain properties. Construction on a centerpiece village has halted.

Owners Jean-Pierre Boespflug and Alfredo Miguel Afif were sued in March in federal court by investment bank Credit Suisse, contending they'd breached an agreement to cover some debts if Tamarack defaulted on a $260 million loan. Companies owned by Boespflug and Afif that own a majority of the resort have sought bankruptcy protection.

Fairmont Tamarack was being developed by BAG Property Holdings, which is owned by Echo Partners, an affiliate of Bayview Financial, and Agassi Graf Development.

The investors opted not to buy land at Tamarack in June 2007, as they had originally planned. Instead, they received a one-year extension on their contract. They sent Tamarack a termination letter on June 11, one day before the extension was due to expire.

A spokeswoman at Agassi Enterprises Inc. in Las Vegas referred questions about the now-terminated project to Joel Goldman, of Coral Gables, Fla., the executive vice president and chief operating officer at Echo Partners.

"Based on the pending litigation and current market conditions, we are not at this time proceeding with the project," Goldman told The Associated Press.

Goldman declined to speculate whether the Fairmont project could be revived if Tamarack's financial stability is restored. BAG Property Holdings has been named in the lawsuit by Credit Suisse, he said.

"I can't discuss under what circumstances the project would or would not move forward," Goldman said.

Ken Ryder, a spokesman for Tamarack, said Agassi and Graf continue to own a personal home at the resort and remain on good terms with management there. Ryder said Fairmont is still interested in a project at Tamarack. He said it's still possible Agassi and Graf could be involved.

"We're hopeful and optimistic our communications and cooperation lines remain open with them," Ryder said.

Officials with Fairmont did not immediately return phone calls seeking comment. Fairmont had planned to run what was proposed to be a condominium hotel at the base of the resort.

Tamarack opened in December 2004 on the western shore of Lake Cascade near a logging community whose fortunes flagged when a Boise Cascade sawmill closed in 2001. It touted itself as America's first new all-season resort in decades and began selling property for $450,000 and up, with promises of $1.5 billion in investments on ski lifts, a Robert Trent Jones Jr. golf course and a new marina.

Agassi and Graf, former world No. 1-ranked tennis players with 30 Grand Slam titles between them, added luster to Tamarack in 2006 when they announced they'd help bankroll the project.