Millions owed on the Claim Jumper building

(Park Record) The shuttered Claim Jumper building, once a grand dame of Main Street, is scheduled to be auctioned off in a trustee sale in late December in what could be one of the most striking examples of the wide-reaching effects of the recession in Park City.

The hulking building, one of the largest on Main Street, is scheduled to be sold to the highest bidder at the main entrance of the Third District Court building at Silver Summit on Dec. 23.

The Arizona firm that owns the building owed nearly $6.9 million to the lender, Oklahoma City-based MidFirst Bank, as of Nov. 1, 2008, according to a default notice filed with the Summit County Recorder's Office. The bank issued a promissory note for $6,850,000 on July 17, 2006 and the rest of what was owed as of 13 months ago was accrued interest and late charges.

Kim Wilson, the trustee handling the upcoming sale, declined to discuss the amount that is now owed. He did not comment extensively about the sale, refusing to speculate about the number of people who might bid on the building and what price it will fetch at auction.

Representative from the firm that owns the building and MidFirst Bank did not immediately return a phone message seeking comment.

The Summit County Assessor's Office values the Claim Jumper building, 573 Main St., and the land it sits on at just less than $2.5 million, less than half of the sum that the bank is owed.

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