THE LENDERS to Florida’s prestigious Sawgrass golf resort, which is owned by a group of Irish investors, have applied for permission to take over and sell the company’s assets.

Last month the owners, a consortium led by high-profile property developer Paddy Kelly and financier Niall McFadden, filed for Chapter 11 protection with a US court after failing to agree a restructuring deal with their lenders Goldman Sachs on a $193 million (€143.4 million) loan.

Goldman Sachs Mortgage, a division of the Goldman Sachs group, has now asked US bankruptcy judge Paul Glenn in Jacksonville, Florida, to lift the automatic stay, a mechanism of the bankruptcy code that shields a company from creditors’ efforts to collect on its assets, in court papers filed on April 7th.

Goldman, which is owed about $193 million, claims the company doesn’t have a stake in the property any more, and it has no possibility of restructuring its debts.

The 65-acre Sawgrass resort, where Tiger Woods made his recent public apology, is owned by RQB Resort LP and RQB Development LP.

In their Chapter 11 court filing, the two RQB companies said the economic downturn had resulted in a 25 per cent drop in revenue last year to $42.6 million.

The resort’s net operating income fell by more than 30 per cent to $7.45 million, leaving its owners unable to service their debt.

No payments have been made to Goldman Sachs since August 2009.

The RQB companies stated that they entered into discussions with Goldman Sachs about a year ago about restructuring the loan.

They told Goldman Sachs that “trends in business bookings” would result in liquidity issues emerging in July or August of last year.

The resort comprises a 448-bed hotel operated by Marriott; The Spa at Sawgrass, which has 19 treatment rooms; 83 two-bed golf villas; and the Cabana beach club, which faces onto the Atlantic and has 780 members.

RQB bought the resort in 2006 for $220.55 million and spent $30 million upgrading the facilities. – (Additional reporting, Bloomberg)