Having defaulted on a more than $3.2 million mortgage, the upscale Copperleaf subdivision just west of Wapiti is facing foreclosure.Wells Fargo Bank of Cody published a legal notice in Monday's Cody Enterprise stating it plans to foreclose next month on 125 lots and several tracts in the 550-acre, 155-lot gated subdivision.

The Copperleaf lots will be sold to the highest bidder on the steps of the Park County Courthouse on Nov. 17, the notice says. The properties will first be offered for sale as separate parcels, then as a group if bidders make that request, or if the sum of the individual lot sales fails to cover the $3.4 million owed on the mortgage, interest and fees.

Copperleaf's developer, Worthington Group of Wyoming, invested some $12 million in building the subdivision's roads, sewer and water systems and other infrastructure, and the subdivision has been ready for residents for some time. But legal challenges from a group opposing the project, the North Fork Citizens for Responsible Development, kept the subdivision's permit in limbo from its 2006 approval until this summer.

Ultimately, the subdivision was reaffirmed, but developers have said the legal uncertainty — and more importantly, the tough real estate market — curbed interest in Copperleaf.

More than 30 lots had been sold as of the summer of 2009, and public records filed with the Park County Clerk's Office show only one deed was issued since. The Billings Gazette reported only two families currently live in the subdivision.

Copperleaf is the second major subdivision in Park County to face foreclosure in recent weeks. In late September, First National Bank of Montana began proceedings to foreclose on 75 lots and a number of tracts in the Meeteetse Trails Estates, a subdivision built around the now-defunct Pine Rock Golf Course outside Meeteetse.