SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – LENDERS have assumed ownership of a stalled luxury resort in Anguilla that has the tiny tourism-dependent island’s only golf course and was co-developed by a US media mogul, officials said Monday.

Victor Banks, Anguilla’s minister of finance and tourism, said a receiver was appointed to take over management of the Temenos resort, where construction halted in June 2008 when developer Flag Luxury Properties LLC ran out of financing for the 286-acre (116 hectare) beachfront parcel.

“It’s a very important property,” Banks said during a Monday phone interview from the British territory of 14,000 people. “We’re hoping to have it finalised and completed and see this property realise its potential.”

Robert Sillerman, a managing director of Flag Luxury whose company CKX Inc owns the “American Idol” franchise and bought controlling interest of Elvis Presley Enterprises in 2004, was one of the partners in the Anguilla development.