Sunrise Financial working on vacant properties in Havre

A company that has been buying up Montana property including in Hill County without doing anything with some of the property appears to be fixing up a few in Havre.

Sunrise Financial Group LLC has started work to renovate a couple of the properties it owns in Havre. That includes the state issuing an electrical permit in January to work on a Sunrise property on the 1200 Block of Washington Avenue in Highland Park and another in April for work on a Sunrise property on the 1300 Block of Fifth Street.

Meanwhile, Placid Rentals LLC, another company that is connected to the company that owns Sunrise, also has been buying property in Havre and other parts of the state including Chinook and Big Sandy.

The work on Sunrise Financial property was first reported in the online news source Havre Herald last Thursday.

A trailer belonging to A Step Above Construction out of Great Falls was parked at the Washington Avenue property Monday.

John Sprague, sole proprietor and worker for A Step Above, said his company is working for Sunrise Financial and that they have been in Havre for more than a month prepping the jobs sites.

The Havre Daily News ran a series of articles in 2016 about how Sunrise had been buying tax liens in Havre and in other communities. The properties in Havre were being allowed to sit without any work, and people who wished to buy the properties were being turned away by Sunrise.

That issue, along with other vacant properties, led Havre resident Samantha Clawson-Hutchins to ask the city to draft ordinances governing vacant properties. The ad hoc committee of the City Council addressing the issue is meeting June 27.

The principals of Sunrise Financial and related companies have not responded to requests for comment from the Havre Daily News.

Shannon Otis, who has filed paperwork for Sunrise Financial and apparently is associated with Placid Rentals, had not responded to calls and emails by printing deadline this morning.

Mayor Tim Solomon said Monday that he has had no direct contact with Sunrise, but the company or the contractors have approached Havre Public Works about permits and was asking questions about properties the company owns around Havre. He added that the company has been talking to Public Works for a month or two. Solomon said the company might be working on something out in the county rather than in the city limits.

Public Works Director Dave Peterson said he didn't know of any permits issued at this time, but the contractor has been in asking questions and getting forms. Peterson said the man coming into the office had not left any contact information.

"They haven't given us any information as far as an application or anything like that," Peterson said.

Sprague said that, as a one-man contractor, he suspects he will have his hands full for at least a year-and-a-half. He also said he usually works 70-80 hours a week, adding that he was happy to have the work and excited to be in Havre.

Sprague said that they have had the electrical permits, which list Schine Electric for the past month.

Sprague added that someone named Brion was in charge of the properties and was the one who had hired him for the project.

He referred further questions to Brad Nemitz.

The person at the number Sprague provided said Nemitz was not at that listing.

Sprague did not answer later calls from the Havre Daily News.

Schine Electric also referred questions to Brad Nemitz, declining to provide his number or any further comment.

People listed as agents and lawyers representing Sunrise Financial Group declined to comment or did not respond to requests for comment.

Many people are asking questions of Sunrise Financial.

Curt Almy, owner of Sunrise Financial based in Miles City, said he and his company are not related in any way to Sunrise Financial Group of Great Falls, although many people call his office every month believing that they have successfully contacted the company and are eager to voice their concerns and protests to the company, Almy said.

He said it is sad that these people are not able to contact the Great Falls company, and he refers them to Jon Kudrna and Brion Lindseth at KLB Business Law, who he said he believes have been involved with Sunrise Financial Group.

"I own Sunrise Incorporated, I own Sunrise Financial here in Miles City, and we get probably four to five phone calls a month from frustrated people that are trying to deal with this Sunrise Financial Group LLC that's based out of the Great Falls area," Almy said. "It is not us and the nature of the phone calls is people that are just absolutely fed up with properties that are being let run into the ground, phone calls that are not returned and nobody on the other end of the line that will pick up on this Sunrise Financial Group LLC.

"So what I started doing," Almy said, "is I started giving out the phone number for these two attorneys in Great Falls that are signing papers on behalf of this Sunrise Financial Group LLC and I'm referring to them. Because, obviously, these lawyers are involved ... ."

Kudrna said he represents Sunrise Financial Group, but declined to comment further, citing attorney-client privilege.

Lindseth, who works with Kudrna and Jennifer Bishop at KLB Business Law, said he has had involvement in Investment Property Managers LLC, the company that owns Sunrise.

Documents on the Montana Secretary of State website show Lindseth as having filed the paperwork for Sunrise Financial and other associated companies.

Lindseth agreed to answer some questions via email about Investment Property Managers and possibly some about Sunrise. He had not replied to emailed questions sent Tuesday morning by print deadline this morning.

Otis, who has been filing paperwork associated with Sunrise Financial for the last two years also appears to be part of Placid Rentals LLC of Great Falls, established May 5, 2015 according to records on the Montana Secretary of State's website.

The telephone number listed on the Sunrise Financial and other documents that Otis registered is also the number for Placid Rentals.

Placid Rentals owns two properties within Havre, as well as more than 60 other properties including in Chinook, Big Sandy and Fort Benton as well as in Cascade, Glacier, Lewis and Clark, Pondera, Powell, Ravalli, Sanders and Yellowstone counties.

Sunrise Financial Group also has bought up properties all over the state, including owning 22 within Hill County, from large apartment buildings to small landlocked sections of rural land.

In Hill County, the company owns 18 properties in or near Havre, two properties off Laredo Road south of Havre, one in Rudyard and one in Inverness.

The company has a complex situation in ownership.

According to the Montana Secretary of State website, Sunrise Financial Group is owned by The Parent Company LLC, which is owned by Sunset Asset Management LLC, which in turn is owned by Investment Property Managers LLC

Investment Property Managers is owned by The Parent Company LLC.

The first of these companies to be established was Investment Property Managers in 2003. Lindseth signed as the organizer and registered agent for the company.

On the Articles of Organization submitted to the secretary of state, the limited liability company's managers or members in 2003 were Lindseth and Ken Fechter.

Sept. 1, 2004, the secretary sent a notice that the company was due to be dissolved due to not filing an annual report.

The company filed a report Oct. 25, 2004, in which Fechter was listed as dissociated and no longer involved in the company.

Nov. 17, 2004, Lindseth filed a document dated Jan. 1, 2004, removing Fechter from the company.

In the annual report filed Feb. 2, 2005, Lindseth was listed as the only manager or member of the company.

Lindseth confirmed this week that Fechter is no longer associated with the company.

Lindseth submitted an annual report every year through 2008, the last year he possessed the company.

The Parent Company, established Dec. 4, 2008, is the registered agent of Sunrise Financial Group, which was established Dec. 9 2008, the same day as Sunset Asset Management, which is managed by Investment Property Managers.

The last year Lindseth submitted the annual report for Investment Property Managers was 2015. In 2016 Shannon Otis submitted the annual report.

Last year Otis, the authorized agent, submitted the annual report, with no indication that Lindseth has left the company, although his name does not appear in the most recent documents.

In 2016 and 2017, Shannon Otis, listing the same number as used by Placid Rentals, filed the annual reports for Sunrise Financial.