Park City billionaire eyes turnaround of bankrupt Wohali golf community

Wohali Land Estates, LLC, filed Aug. 8 to the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Salt Lake City. Photo: Screenshot via Wohali website

COALVILLE, Utah – The collapse of Wohali, a bankrupt luxury golf development north of Park City, may look like an isolated failure. But to Park City billionaire Douglas Bergeron—now weighing a bid to acquire the project—it’s also part of a larger story about the risks, miscalculations, and recurring patterns that have long defined high-end resort communities across the Mountain West.

“Somebody had an idea. I think they were grossly undercapitalized, which is actually almost a recurring theme with golf course communities,” Bergeron said in an interview. “People get into them with lofty ideas about how fast these places can sell out, betting on something quite preposterous — that people want to buy into a lifestyle community before you can show them the lifestyle.”

Wohali, tucked into rolling terrain just outside Park City in Coalville, was marketed as a premier private club anchored by a world-class golf course. But with much of the promised infrastructure still just a PowerPoint presentation — no clubhouse, no five-star amenities, and little sign of the lifestyle buyers were sold — sales lagged.

Bergeron, the developer and seller of the notorious “Mountainhead” home that was listed at $65M last year setting the record for the highest home price in Utah, argues that the project’s financial structure made it destined to stumble. The equity stack was too thin, the debt terms too harsh, and the market assumptions too rosy. “The amount of equity they raised — $24 million — is kind of a joke. That’s going to go away in bankruptcy court,” he said. “Debt service where interest rates are six, seven, eight, nine percent can eat you alive. The whole equity and debt stack that was assembled here was inappropriate and underwhelming for the size of the project.”

Wohali now sits in bankruptcy, with an auction expected to determine its fate. Whoever steps in, Bergeron said, will have to solve what he calls the project’s “chicken-and-egg problem”: lot owners who won’t invest more without seeing amenities built, and prospective buyers who won’t purchase until there’s proof of a finished lifestyle community.

“Right now, the only property is the PowerPoint presentation,” he said. “The lot owners aren’t happy, and new prospective lot owners are not going to be happy unless they see finality here — a path to solvency.”

His solution? Reimagine Wohali as more than a gated golf enclave for a few dozen owners. Bergeron sees potential for a broader vision that includes a luxury hotel, destination dining, a spa, and public-facing amenities that could bring energy — and revenue — back to the property.

“One option is to reimagine Wohali as more than just a private club for lot owners,” he said. “Perhaps it’s not a clubhouse, but a beautiful, named luxury hotel which incorporates a clubhouse as part of it, just like St. Regis in Deer Valley incorporates a ski club as part of it. By all accounts, you have a world-class golf course that people would happily fly to if they can have a five-star experience with a large spa, restaurants, and places their kids can swim while they’re out golfing.”

Bergeron notes that this kind of pivot has saved other once-troubled projects. He points to Promontory and Victory Ranch, both of which went through recapitalization periods before emerging as thriving communities. In his telling, what looks like collapse can sometimes be a turning point.

“It’s not uncommon for this to happen,” he said. “Usually the cleanup team creates something great and something quite financially beneficial to everybody. And I’m chief of the cleanup team.”

Whether Bergeron himself will be part of Wohali’s next chapter remains to be seen. He said his team is still weighing whether to bid at auction. But with the golf course at risk of losing value if not maintained — a “perishable” asset, in his words — bankruptcy court is expected to move quickly.

For Park City, the stakes are larger than just one golf development. Wohali represents both the allure and the danger of building lifestyle communities in Utah’s booming resort economy: big promises, big risks, and the need for deep capital to make the dream real.

“Park City is going to continue to thrive as an amazing place to live and place to visit,” Bergeron said. “We’re going to have to start looking at the periphery. Wohali is an absolutely beautiful example of what’s just on the edge of Park City. And if the opportunity to make something beautiful were to arise, somebody should do it.”

Currently, Bergeron is the founder and sole shareholder of DGB Investments, a diversified holding company of technology and real estate investments. He also serves as Chairman of the Board of Cantaloupe, Inc. (Nasdaq: CTLP) and is a member of the Board of Directors of Metateq and Zact.

 He is also a permanent member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a five-time invited delegate to the World Economic Forum in Davos, and he has been a frequent guest on CNBC and Fox Business.