Owner of Lutsen Lodge removed from managing another North Shore resort
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The owner of the landmark Lutsen Lodge that burned down earlier this year has been temporarily removed from the operations of another major North Shore resort.
A Lake County judge on July 24 placed Superior Shores Resort near Two Harbors in control of a temporary operator. That’s after Bryce Campbell reportedly missed nearly $13 million in payments to purchase the property, and failed to meet other terms of the deal — something Campbell, through his attorney, disputed.
According to Judge Steven Hanke’s order and other court filings, Campbell and his company — Shores Resort Co. — had entered a contract for deed in 2020 to purchase Superior Shores for $14.5 million.
The resort on Lake Superior includes, according to court filings, a lodge with more than 100 rooms and a restaurant, as well as a nearby property on Burlington Bay with 75 units “ranging from hotel rooms to five-bedroom luxury units,” and condominium units.
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But Campbell reportedly failed to make nearly $13 million in payments to the sellers as required by June 1. Hanke’s order also found that Campbell’s company failed to pay all real estate taxes, failed to “maintain and keep the properties in good repair,” and didn’t provide required financial statements, among other issues.
Hanke placed Superior Shores under the management of Iowa-based Kinseth Hospitality Group as a “temporary limited receiver.”
In response to Hanke’s order, Campbell’s attorney disputed that there was a breach of the deal.
Scott Witty wrote to the court that Campbell and his company have been making required payments “for more than four years without objection or issue.”
“There is no breach of the contracts for deed and no need or grounds for appointment of a receiver, which will no doubt cause substantial disruption of operations, and likely significant financial losses, during the resort’s busiest season of the year,” Witty wrote.
In court filings, Campbell said all revenue from operating Superior Shores has been reinvested in the property. He claimed that included “substantial deferred maintenance” left undone by the sellers.
In a court hearing Wednesday afternoon, Bruce Kinseth, executive vice president of Kinseth Hospitality, said a team of five people arrived at Superior Shores beginning Friday evening. He described what they found as a “financial disaster.”
“I don’t think there were any financial statements we could find for 2023 and 2024,” he said. “There was a tremendous amount of accounts payable bills. We have had vendors stop in demanding payment.”
Mark Thieroff, an attorney representing Joe Re, who agreed to sell Superior Shores four years ago, said insurance policies at the resort were canceled for nonpayment, real estate taxes went unpaid, and Campbell repeatedly failed to produce required financial reports.
“Continued possession of the resort by the debtor poses a very real threat to the profits and rents and therefore the value of the property,” said Thieroff.
Campbell challenged all those claims. He argued the property is fully insured, he had enough money to pay taxes before the receivership was put in place, and that documentation was provided.
He also said the resort was in better financial shape than it was when he bought it, after struggling through the pandemic and then a slow winter season this year. Campbell said he sold units at the resort for $4 million during the first half of the year, with several million more in sales pending.
“Our financial ability was about to be better than it’s ever been,” Campbell said.
Campbell alleged he had reached a deal with Re to extend the deadline of the balloon payment he owed until 2025. But Re said that agreement was never officially finalized.
“This is a ploy to get the property back by the seller, who now realizes that the buyer has put a ton of money into improving the property, and survived the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Witty, Campbell’s attorney.
Hanke gave the attorneys one week to file briefs in the case. He ordered the receivership to remain in place in the meantime.
Campbell also owns the Lutsen Lodge property along the North Shore. That resort’s historic main lodge was leveled by fire on Feb. 6, nearly six months ago.
The State Fire Marshal’s Office said Wednesday that the investigation into the fire is still open. In the weeks after the fire, investigators dug through the charred debris to try to determine where the fire started, and what caused it.
Campbell has said he intends to rebuild the lodge.
At the time of the fire, there were several pending lawsuits against the resort and its parent company from owners of cabins and townhomes who said they were owed money. Those properties were managed and rented out by the resort.