Aquilini Development Ltd., Garibaldi Resort Management Co. Ltd. and a B.C. numbered company owned by Aquilini principal Luigi Aquilini, in September filed a petition in B.C. Supreme Court seeking the appointment of a receiver for the operating entity’s failure to repay loans issued in 2018.
That failure to repay loans triggered a default on $64 million in debts owed by Garibaldi at Squamish LP, the entity created by the project’s backers, Aquilini Development and Northland Properties, the family company of founder Bob Gaglardi, to build the resort.
In an affidavit filed along with the petition, Andrew Brown, vice-president of finance for Aquilini Development, said without third-party funding, Garibaldi at Squamish has no ability to advance the project, including the work necessary to satisfy the conditions of the environmental assessment certificate.”
The province in 2016 awarded Garibaldi at Squamish an environmental approval certificate for a seven-square-kilometre ski resort 15 km north of Squamish. In 2019, the province granted the operating entity an extension that gave the operating company until 2026 to begin a substantial start to construction.
Brown, however, said in the affidavit that directors of the resort entity’s ownership haven’t been able to reach agreement on the project’s future and the best way to fund ongoing development, which has hindered its ability to raise outside financing for the project.
