This might be the most beautiful house in Boulder, Colorado, it's definitely one of the most expensive. The glass home sits on 1.24 acres and backs to the historic Chautauqua Park with views of Boulder, Denver and beyond. The two things that make this five-bedroom home so extraordinary are the ample use of glass walls, and the way that the property's large stone features have been incorporated into the home. The office is particularly striking with a wraparound glass table with wrought iron legs. The property includes a large guest house, patios, sculpture, a small gazebo in the back yard and professional landscaping that includes a stone pathway and viewing vistas. It is listed at $21.9 million.
With the Democratic National Convention set to hit Denver in late August, this town which usually isn't a summer destination might just be the hottest spot around. Local hotels are getting ready for the onslaught. One of the most unique is The Curtis, a hotel that blends the traditional comforts of a hotel stay with a side order of goofiness. The Curtis is a 336-room property that offers non-standard features such as in-room board game menus, interactive video art by Denver artist Gary Emrich and a 5 & Dime Store selling Orange Crush, Etch-A-Sketch and Lemonheads. The hotel has a contemporary style and each floor has a theme including the Big Hair Floor (on 9), the TV Mania Floor (14) and Dun Dun Dunnnnn! (the ominous 13th floor), where images of Jack Nicholson in The Shining and a vintage vacancy notice from the Bates Motel cast a chilling scene. The usual amenities are here too including flat-screen TVs, wireless internet access and iPod and MP3 speaker systems in the rooms. The hotel has a business center, fitness center, and the hotel's signature restaurant, The Corner Office, offers "global comfort food" in a funky retro setting. It looks like they are already booked for the convention but otherwise rates start around $160 per night.
We don't have any interior pictures on this one but you won't be spending millions of dollars for a 2,500-square-foot, three-bedroom home anyway. With Upper Mesa Ranch, located in the San Juan National Forest in Archuleta County, Colorado, the worth is the land. The property is 340 acres with water rights and it includes a two-acre, trout-stocked pond, ample horse property, trails for riding, hiking and cross-country skiing and a wide variety of wildlife that includes elk, eagles, turkey and bears. It is located 30 minutes from the town of Pagosa Springs.
The house is knotless-cedar custom home with a 500-square-foot loft, three-car garage and covered deck for taking in the views over the unspoiled landscape. The property also includes a horse barn with three stalls, tack room, porch and outdoor corral and a gazebo. It is listed at $8,000,000.
Free-spending Russian billion Roman Abramovich is at it again. Just a week after we learned that he is working on a home that will be the most expensive private residence in Britain, we learn he's also picked up an Aspen home. This isn't just any Aspen home, this is Wildcat Ridge, the modern home of Leon Hirsch. We've been following Hirsch's struggle to sell this home since February of 2005. Back then Hirsch listed his home for $35 million. Since then he's switched real estate brokers a couple of times and has even put it up for actuion a couple of times with no luck. Another man might have dropped his price looking for a sale but Hirsch's stubbornness seems to have paid off, he sold to Abramovich for $36.375 million.
Abramovich is getting quite a home. Wildcat Ridge has 11 bedrooms is perched at an elevation of 9,200 feet on Wildcat Ridge offering views for miles. The home, designed by Voorsanger Architects, has a dramatic folded plate roof and a large moss rock wall dividing the east and west wings of the building. The home gets its energy from 60 geothermal wells so that it is virtually self sufficient. The wells heat the home, driveway and pool during the winter months and provide cooling in the summer. It also comes with 32 pieces of furniture custom designed for the home.
The Neighborhood Scout chooses Breckridge, Colorado as a cheaper way to live the skiing life than Aspen, Colorado. In Apsen, the median house price is $1.6 million but in Breckenridge the median is just $618,892. Breckenridge is a ski resort that is rapidly growing in popularity and amenities. We recently covered One Ski Place, the large condo complex planned for the area.
In Aspen we looked at a huge property that is listed at $58 million. Today's home is far more modest but has a lot to offer for the snow aficionado. This home is located in the Timber Trail ski in, ski out community. From this house you can ski straight to the Colorado or Rocky Mountain quad chairs. The home has seven bedrooms including three master suites and seperate kid's quarters with boys and girls bunk rooms, bathrooms and their own den. There is also an in-home cinema and the great room has massive full round log beams. Apres ski relaxing includes a spa room and a hot tub by the outside fireplace. This is the most expensive home currently on the market in Breckenridge and it is listed at $5.895 million.
For the next couple of weeks we will be checking out some homes in the most expensive zip codes in the United States, up today, 81611 . This zip code encompasses the perennially fashionable ski town of Aspen, Colorado and has a median price of $1,630,000 with an appreciation rate of 184% since 1990. This scenic town caters to the some of the wealthiest snowbunnies in the world. It was in the real estate spotlight in 2006 when a Saudi prince put his home on the market for $135 million (he sold off smaller homes and later pulled his Hala Ranch off the market).
Today's home is listed at less than half of that estate and is still one of the most expensive in the nation. Elk Song Ranch is 67 acres of property that offers the ultimate in a quiet mountain getaway.The property includes a large pond and trails for horseback riding, snowmobiles and cross-country skiing. The home itself is 20,000 square feet with seven bedrooms, a large grat room with sunken bar, gourmet kitchen, formal dining room, exercise room, game room and a master suite that includes his and hers bathrooms, an office and outdoor space with a hot tub. The outdoor patios are large enough to host a wedding and as you might imagine, the views are tremendous. This home is listed at $$58 million.
Gallery: Most Expensive Zip Codes, 81611, Aspen, CO
Part of the pleasure of doing the estate-of-the-day post each day is searching through the dreck to find truly exceptional homes. This one in Telluride wins me over with its open, light-filled spaces and the use of simple shed and gable structures to create three different spaces which represent a mill, cabin and a bunkhouse and form a master suite, main home, and a garage with a caretaker's unit above. There is also an older log cabin which has been moved to the nearly five-acre property and set amidst the woods for a private guest experience. The entrance to the home has a timber and steel trestle bridge. There are six bedrooms total and just one fireplace but what a fireplace it is, so huge you could practically curl up inside it. This home is listed at $8.995 million.
Not quite sure how I missed this one but multimillionaire and former Presidential candidate Steve Forbes has sold his huge Forbes Trinchera Ranch near Fort Garland, Colorado to billionaire hedge-fund manager Louis Moore Bacon for a record $175 million. There are some debates over whether or not this counts as the most expensive single-family home sold in America since it is not so much a home as a ranch and retreat.
The ranch is 171,400 acres and is located near the Sangre de Christo mountain range, 160 miles south of Denver. Bacon, a known conservationist and environmentalist is seen to be an excellent choice to be the steward of this land. Bacon has said he will retain the present uses of the ranch which include a private hunting preserve and as a corporate retreat.
While browsing through real estate listings searching for an estate of the day I came across a rather familiar home. The McAfee mansion in Woodland Park, Colorado, which sold at auction for $5.72 million back in May, is now back on the market. At the time the mansion and 280-acre estate were expected to sell for $20 million but Jeffrey Patrick Wu, a 29-year-old Chicago commodities trader got himself quite a deal. At the time Wu said he planned to use the mansion as a vacation home. Yet here we are seven months later and the mansion is listed at $8.9 million. It would be a nice return on his investment if he gets that price. Check out the pictures from when it was our estate of the day here.
Breckenridge, Colorado is starting to rival Aspen and Vail when it comes to luxury condos. One Ski Hill Place, is a new 90-unit development at the base of Peak 8. The new property is part of RockResorts and will feature amenities that include an aquatics center with two swimming pools and both indoor and outdoor hot tubs. Owners will also have access to a game room, two movies lounges and lockers. There will even be a bowling alley which will be designed to resemble a mine shaft. The property will be home to three restaurants, a conference center, a sports massage center and ski and snowboard rental services. Units range from studios to four bedrooms. The development also has a green angle: the lodge will include recycled materials, low-energy windows, Energy-Star appliances and water-saving devices.
The first 15 of 90 units will be released Dec. 8 and the asking price for the first of four penthouses will be $2.67 million, which will set a record as the highest asking price for a non-single family residence in Summit County. The previous record was held by a unit at Crystal Peak Lodge which cost $2.4 million. Construction is set to begin in May and due for completion for the 2009-10 ski season.
I love getaway packages that balance out fun and fitness. This winter at The Inn at Beaver Creek you can indulge in a package called "Cooking with Yoga and Snow." The weekend package, which is being held January 10-13, 2008 features Yahoo's Mind-Body Expert "Yoga Dave" David Romanelli and cooking classes with Pollyanna Forster, sommelier and owner of dish restaurant. The package includes a three night stay at The Inn at Beaver Creek, a two day ski pass at Vail and Beaver Creek Mountains, two cooking classes taught by Pollyanna Forster including a mountain grilling class at Red Tail Camp, daily yoga classes and one four-course gourmet lunch at Trapper's Cabin, a luxury cabin located on top of Beaver Creek Mountain. Package rates start at $1,350 per person, based on double occupancy.
Denver is set to get a new luxury residences tower that will make a big impact on the skyline. The recent groundbreaking of 1111 Tower marks the start of a building that will stand approximately 600 feet high and will be a new residential building in downtown Denver. The building will include 240 rooms of luxury hotel accommodations and 102 private residences that range from 1,000 square feet to 6,100 square feet. The new Four Seasons Hotel Denver will take up the first 16 floors of the building and will include a restaurant, lobby lounge and bar, spa, fitness center, meeting space and a rooftop pool and dining area. The private residences start on the 18th floor and extend up to the 45th floor offering gorgeous Rocky Mountain views. The tower is scheduled for completion by Spring 2010.
There's no denying the green trend but it's fascinating to see how it plays out in the luxury real estate market. This new build is a ,800 square foot, five bedroom, mountain home in Bear Dance just outside of Larkspur,Colorado. The house was designed to have a utility bill costing no more than $350 a month. It may not sound like a big reduction but heating and electricity for a home this size in the winter can run into the thousands. Thehome's energy-efficient features include wrap-around wall insulation, solar thermal panels on the roof that pre-heat all the domestic water and four additional solar electric panels that produce enough electricity to run the homes six refrigerators.
The home was also built green, using recycled, reclaimed and organic materials whenever possible, including the Cultured Logs(TM), log-finish exterior, made from composite material and non-toxic blown-in insulation. The hardwood floors are reclaimed antique hickory, taken from a barn built in Virginia in the late 1800's. All the paints and stains are VOC free and even the vegetation cleared at the homesite was mulched and returned to the land. The home has a media room, wine cellar, game room and exercise area as well as a wet bar and family room. The home is listed at $4.5 million.
The other day I mentioned a LEED neighborhood development project in Florida, now comes news of another LEED neighborhood development project, the $1 billion project in Colorado, Ever Vail. The project at the base of Vail Mountain seeks to become the largest LEED-certified project for resort use in the U.S. The resort will include residences, a hotel, office space, retail shops, restaurants and a public park.
Eco-sensitive measures at Ever Vail will include using woods certified by the Forest Stewardship Council and local area beetle-kill Lodgepole pine trees in building construction, using a geothermal system for snowmelt, using micro-turbines in Gore Creek to power the outdoor streetscape lighting and using reclaimed water from snowmelt for use as water in toilets rather than using drinking water. A "closed-loop" gray water system would also be in place for washing all mountain operations vehicles, such as snowcats and snowmobiles at the site of the new mountain operations maintenance yard. The project will also include affordable housing in the form of studio, one- and two-bedroom units that will range in size from approximately 900 to 1,600 square feet.
This home attracted me first with the news that it was a major price reduction. We all love a good deal and this home just had a $900,000 price cut. Real estate in Colorado does seem to be struggling in some areas. This home, near Durango, Colorado is a 8,275 square foot home in the gated community of High Meadows Ranch. The home sits on 60 secluded acres with views of the valley and Red Cliffs. The five-bedroom home also comes with one-bedroom guest quarters and a five-car garage. There is also a log cabin playhouse on the property. The home has large stone patios and a built in gas barbecue plus an outside kitchen. The entry has lighted rock waterfall and the home is wired for surround sound with 75 speakers throughout the interior and exterior of the home. Vaulted tongue and groove ceilings and sandstone accents highlight the gorgeous main spaces. It is now listed at $4,300,000. Considering what the McAfee mansion went for, I wonder if this one might go even lower. After the jump, check out the mural in the master bedroom.
