Save The Queen frontman Jeff Klein was caught off guard this morning when he learned that his development consortium has only three business days — until the end of the day Tuesday, November 6 — to finalize its $43 million bid to purchase the lease to operate the Queen Mary and develop 64 acres of surrounding property. If Save The Queen cannot complete the deal by that deadline, the right to purchase the lease would be inherited by O&S Holdings, which posted an opening bid of $41 million.

Klein had assumed that his group might have from 10 days to two weeks to conclude the complicated purchase, which was temporarily halted by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on October 19 because of a claim by a small contracting company called AAC Shoreline. That claim was resolved Thursday in bankruptcy court when Judge Vincent Zurzulo approved a $1.15-million settlement with AAC Shoreline. The Ninth Circuit was expected to review that settlement and lift its stay sometime next week, giving Klein and Co. time to reorganize financing.

Instead, the Ninth Circuit acted almost immediately, lifting the stay late Thursday and creating a three-day deadline to close the deal.

Klein was just learning of the decision and its implications via a telephone call this morning when The District reached him for his reaction. “That’s what this call is about–I didn’t know about any of this until now,” he said. “I’ll have a comment for you later when I’ve received all the information.”

On August 14 Klein and Save The Queen won a two-minute auction for the right to buy the lease — held for more than 10 years by Joe Prevratil and QSDI, until it filed bankruptcy in March 2005 — and had until October 22 to sort through the tangled financial mess Prevratil had created. But that deadline was delayed when the Ninth Circuit imposed its stay.

“It’s hard to stop and start like that when you are dealing with financiers, but I’m sure we’ll be alright,” Klein said Thursday, when he assumed he’d have more time.

If Klein cannot make the deadline, he would forfeit a $1.29 million deposit.

If O&S Holdings inherits the right to the lease, it would have 45 days to conclude its purchase — Friday, Dec. 21 — and it’s clear the company would relish the opportunity. It has previously asserted that the auction process was unfair.

“From an official standpoint, we wish Save The Queen well,” said O&S Holdings counsel Jess Bressi of Cox, Castle and Nicholson. “But if for any reason it cannot perform, O&S Holdings is ready to step up.”

Tags: Jeff Klein, Jess Bressi, Joe Prevratil, O&S Holdings, Queen Mary, Save The Queen