Bottling Plant and Real Estate Sell

OURAY – The next chapter has begun for the beleaguered BIOTA water bottling plant in north Ouray. The property, which includes the land, plant and equipment, was auctioned to Mountain Pure Water, of Bee Branch, Ark., on Thursday, July 17, for a price tag of $2.35 million. John B. Stacks, a senior officer of the corporation, participated in the bidding. No statement was available from Stacks as to future plans for the plant.

The auction company, GoIndustry/DoveBid, described the package in a brochure as a blow molding and water bottling facility with real estate comprising 3.02 acres of land, a 21,500-square-foot light industrial building and an attached 15,000-square-foot warehouse, as well as assorted bottling equipment.

The seller was United Postal Service Capital Business Credit, of Lubbock, Texas, former creditor to BIOTA. UPS bought the company for $3 million at a foreclosure sale in August 2007, and then auctioned the land, plant and equipment to Black Gold Organic Fertilizer, Inc. in October 2007 for the price of $3.8 million.

Shortly after the October 2007 auction, a legal dispute erupted over ownership of the intellectual property rights involving the brand name BIOTA, an acronym for “Blame It On The Altitude.” Black Gold filed a lawsuit against UPS for the rights, which they claimed were included in the package. The purchase agreement between Black Gold and UPS fell through following a U.S. District Court dismissal of the lawsuit in May 2008.

Immediately following the dismissal, Ouray County Treasurer Jeanne Casolari reported that her office received more than $328,500 from UPS on current and delinquent taxes due for personal property and real estate property at BIOTA.

The plant was constructed in 2003 and went into production in 2004 through a contract with the city for water from the underground Weehawken Spring, but discontinued bottling operations in early 2007.