The holding company that owns the clubhouse and land under Aspen Lakes Golf Course in Sisters is planning to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection this week.

Wildhorse Meadows LLC, which is owned by Sisters’ Cyrus family, is expected to file Thursday to allow the company to restructure $4.6 million in debt, co-owner Matt Cyrus said Tuesday.

The Cyrus family also owns the golf course, which does business as a separate entity, Aspen Lakes Golf Course LLC. Wildhorse Meadows acts as Aspen Lakes’ landlord.

“This gives us stability and the ability to move forward and know where we are at for the summer,” Cyrus said of the bankruptcy filing.

Chapter 11 will allow the golf course and restaurant to continue with “business as usual,” Cyrus said, adding that he hopes a reorganization plan is in place by midsummer. Golfers should not notice a difference in the course’s operation this season, he said.

Wildhorse Meadows owes $4.6 million to Medford-based PremierWest Bank, borrowed primarily to build Aspen Lakes’ clubhouse, which opened in 2008, Cyrus said.

PremierWest sent a notice of default in March to begin the foreclosure process. The bankruptcy filing will come one day before a public sale of the property was planned.

Aspen Lakes opened its first nine holes in 1997 and opened all 18 in 2000. The par-72 public course is perhaps best-known for its red-cinder bunkers.

The golf facility employs nearly 100 workers during the golf season, and has an annual payroll of about $850,000, according to Aspen Lakes.

Aspen Lakes’ debt stems from a loan to build the facility’s clubhouse, which includes a pro shop and restaurant, Brand 33.

The clubhouse opened just in time to bear the brunt of the economic meltdown that took hold in 2008. The national recession officially began in December 2007.

“The bottom line is the timing was bad, just like the rest of the world,” Cyrus said. “(PremierWest’s) hands are tied based on FDIC (Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.) and federal regulations and regulators looking over their shoulders. Without this process, they don’t have the ability to take a look at restructuring our debt.”

Under Chapter 11, the debtor usually proposes a plan of reorganization to keep its business operating and pay creditors over time, according to a federal court website.

Aspen Lakes will be the third Central Oregon property tied to golf to file for Chapter 11 protection in recent years.

The Greens at Redmond filed in 2009 and Remington Ranch, a destination resort development near Powell Butte that finished half of its first course, Wicked Pony, began the reorganization process in 2010.

Both properties are still in the process of reorganizing.

In addition to the bankruptcies, Thrivent Financial foreclosed on Bend’s private Broken Top Club in November.

Juniper Golf Course, the city of Redmond’s municipal golf course, fell behind on its construction bond payments to the city in 2009, prompting Redmond to hire California-based management company CourseCo to improve operations.

In November, Jeld-Wen Inc., a Klamath Falls-based window and door maker and a golf course resort developer, sold Eagle Crest Resort in Redmond, Brasada Ranch in Powell Butte and Running Y Ranch Resort in Klamath Falls to a joint venture of Westport, Conn.-based Northview Hotel Group and a subsidiary of funds managed by Oaktree Capital Management LP.

Cyrus is optimistic that Chapter 11 will help Aspen Lakes gain solid footing.

If not for the debt, Aspen Lakes would have been able to weather the economic storm, he said.

“I’m confident that potentially we are one of the healthier golf courses (in Central Oregon),” Cyrus said. “Our course generates positive cash flow. We generate a profit here, it’s just not currently sufficient to cover our existing debt.”