By Sarah Light, staff writer

Two notices of mortgage foreclosure totaling almost $1 million against the controversial Eagle&8217;s Rest development were filed in the Freeborn County Recorder&8217;s Office during the last four months, according to reports obtained Thursday.

The first foreclosure notice, for $50,000, was filed in July and has since been resolved. It is unknown today whether the second notice, for $937,500, still stands. It was filed earlier this month.

The Tribune attempted to reach the bank Thursday and this morning. The person with American Bank who could speak about the matter was unavailable for comment.

Eagle&8217;s Rest, which has caused much debate since it was announced in 2006, is being built on the former century-old, 18-hole Albert Lea Golf Club by commercial developer Scott LaFavre.

The two mortgages, one of which was filed in May of 2006 and the other of which was filed in May of this year, were both obtained from American Bank of St. Paul.

LaFavre purchased the club for the new residential development in May of 2006. In April 2006 he announced his plans to bulldoze the property and build a 120-lot high-end neighborhood. In February of that year, he purchased the Wedge Nursery.

At the time of the purchase, LaFavre said he hoped to complete construction on 30 lots and a 20-unit condominium by the end of that year.

Now, however, 18 months later, no structures have been erected.

&8220;I hated to see the golf course go,&8221; said former Albert Lea Golf Club golfer Al Arends. &8220;I thought it should have stayed; however, once it was destroyed or totally changed, I was hoping that something good would come of this.&8221;

Arends said he was not surprised to hear about the notices for foreclosure.

&8220;It&8217;s a black mark right now for all of us because that was a place that had been there as one of the oldest golf courses in the state of Minnesota,&8221; he said. &8220;Now it&8217;s been destroyed and we have a pile of dirt.&8221;

Albert Lea City Manager Victoria Simonsen said Thursday evening that the city was not aware the property was under a notice of foreclosure.

&8220;It&8217;s my understanding that local contractors have been paid,&8221; Simonsen said.

Mayor Randy Erdman declined to comment.

However, in addition to the foreclosure notices, another report filed in the Freeborn County Recorder&8217;s Office last month indicated the request for a mechanic&8217;s lien for about $341,000. The lien was filed by Webster Grading Inc., also known as Rud Excavating of Webster, for unpaid labor furnished at the Eagle&8217;s Rest land. LaFavre, a Lakeville resident, is a commercial developer and owner of tree nurseries and Eagle&8217;s Rest is his first residential development.

The lien claimant stated in the report that its contractors had graded the development site for residential use from May 11 to Aug. 17, 2007.

It was unknown as of press time whether this lien had been resolved.

Lastly, reports indicated a contract case has also been working through Freeborn County District Court between Delinear Concepts LLC and Eagle&8217;s Rest Development LLC to establish and foreclose an equitable lien of record, based upon the granting of a mortgage and a loan of funds for the construction of Eagle&8217;s Rest.

According to reports filed in the Recorder&8217;s Office, this was for $279,000.

Ferdinand Peters, the attorney for Delinear Concepts, said the case has &8220;tentatively been resolved,&8221; though it is not finished yet.

Look to the Tribune for more information on these cases as it becomes available.

LaFavre could not be reached for a response to any of the reports obtained from the county recorder.

He purchased the golf course from owners in Des Moines, Iowa. They were Marlo and John Gillotti, John Clark and Nils Norland. He had made an unsolicited offer, and the deal surprised local club members. The members sought to make their own offer, but the former owners and LaFavre already had a purchase agreement in place.