RealmTown dreams are fading as fate of Evermore Park is again unknown
Feb 4, 2025, 2:30 PM
The purchase contract for Evermore Park never went through, and now Evermore and the company who had planned to purchase it are fighting in court. (Grant Olsen/KSL.com Contributor)
(Grant Olsen/KSL.com Contributor)
PLEASANT GROVE — The fate of Evermore Park’s land in Pleasant Grove is once again in the air as the sale its owner, Brandon Fugal, announced in August never closed.
Evermore Park filed a lawsuit on Jan. 3 against the purchasers, Michelle and Travis Fox, and their company Realm ATV, saying a December request to reduce the purchase price by millions of dollars breached their purchase agreement.
It said the new owners used the property before a final settlement to film promotional videos, including a series about restoring the property it did not yet own, but referenced the property as if they owned it to build their social media presence.
Evermore Is asking for at least $300,000 in the lawsuit.
Realm ATV responded on Monday with a countersuit. It says it has had financial losses due to the arrangement and also asked the courts for money, but not a specific amount. The company claims it has the right to reverse or change its offer based on what it found during the extended due diligence period.
It said videos created on the property were approved by Evermore and accused Evermore of prematurely filing its lawsuit.
Realm ATV also said it was Evermore or its owner who breached confidentiality agreements and announced the new owners of the property before the sale had closed.
Michelle Fox, of Nevada, spoke in a video published Wednesday on RealmTube, the company’s YouTube channel, about the challenges of purchasing the property. She said purchasing the property and developing a park they had planned to call RealmTown was a dream for her and her husband; however, as they looked closer at the property, they found things were not as good as they seemed.
She said they found the park would not be able to hold 2,000 guests; it could only accommodate 185 after a portion of the land had been sold separately. She said there was vandalism, missing infrastructure, structures without permits, mold, lack of flues in fireplaces, and more HOA responsibilities than they had anticipated.
“This journey wasn’t about acquiring land. It was really about creating a space, transformation, community and adventure and having an address to associate it with. And while this chapter did not end as we hoped, we remain committed to bringing that vision to life, even if it’s a traveling carnival for now,” she said.
She joked that now she has something in common with Taylor Swift, as both have been sued by Evermore.
“We are both ruthless women in business who have been sued by the same property,” she said.
Michelle Fox said the Hatch the Egg contest associated with RealmTown was a separate entity and did not earn them any money to help restore the property — all of the money from their sponsor went directly to the winners of the contest.
“The magic is not gone; it’s just taking a new form,” Michelle Fox said, adding that Hatch the Egg will continue.
The contest had a first-place prize of $20,000 and required visiting locations throughout Utah and solving puzzles.
Evermore’s lawsuit said the initial agreement required the buyers to purchase the property for $14,525,000. Later, the close date for the purchase was extended to December and the price increased to $14.9 million. Under this second arrangement, the buyers were required to pay $70,000 each month until the final closing on Dec. 31, 2024 — money that would not go towards the purchase price.
The lawsuit said Realm ATV asked in October to waive the requirement to pay November’s $70,000, and Evermore agreed; however, they said they did not agree to the buyers not paying the December installment.
In Realm ATV’s response to the lawsuit, it argued the waiver was requested for November and December payments based on “urgent and extensive repairs needed on the property.”
Both sides claim they made reasonable efforts to help the sale go through but with the lawsuit, it seems Evermore will likely need to start looking for a new buyer.
