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Buttermilk for $31.5 Jobless ratehome up insells Roaring Forkmillion Valley More people unemployed in Aspen-area in December 2010 than in prior year Scott Condon The Aspen Times
The Roaring Fork Valley can’t shake the recession, according to an unemployment report released this week by the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment.
LET THE GAMES BEGIN
Unemployment in all three of the counties that comprise the Roaring Fork Valley was higher in December than the same month in 2009, the report showed. Pitkin County’s unemployment rate crept up from 5.5 percent in December 2009 to 6.8 percent last month. Garfield County’s unemployment rate surged from 7.8 percent in December 2009 to 9.4 percent last month. Eagle County’s unemployed increased from 6.9 percent of the work force in December 2009 to 8 percent last month. The numbers suggest that while the national economy is slowly recovering, the
Biggest home sale so far this year in Pitkin County
Roaring Fork Valley’s economy is still ail- dodge it. ing. She said she is in contact with many “I think it’s getting worse,” said Marie people in the construction industry and a Gasau, minister at the Basalt United Com- lot of middle management workers who munity Methodist Church. are wondering: “Am I going to be able to Rick isCarroll Gasau involved in multiple relief hold on?” efforts in the valley The Aspen Timesand said demand shot up last year for programs like ThanksgivDecember wasn’t the same ingASPEN food baskets forPitkin the needy and Christ-biggest home sale of the year closed — County’s mas gifts for children of struggling families. The labor department’s report said the Friday when a Buttermilk estate fetched $31.5 million. Gasau said she believes the valleyMountain has unemployment rate for Colorado in been “so isolated” from recessions in the December was 8.8 percent while the past because of the strength of its econo- national level stood at 9.4 percent. The The seven-bedroom, nine-bathroom, 12,432-square-foot mansion my, but the most recent downturn was so broad deep that valley couldn’t A6 wasand acquired bytheAspen Grove Properties LLC, saidUNEMPLOYMENT Steven Shane,
owner of Aspen-based SDS Real Estate Co. Shane, who represented the buyer in the deal, said the new owner does not want to disclose. Public records show the same LLC sold a McSkimming Road home on Sept. 27 for $7.4 million.
Maximum exposure
The seller was WBR Associates LLC, which is controlled by software magnate Robert Zangrillo, according to the Multiple Listing Service. Aspen broker Joshua Saslove and Aspen attorney Joseph Krabacher represented the seller. Friday’s deal trumps the previous biggest home sale of the year — hedge fund manager John Paulson’s $24.5 million purchase of a McLain Flats homeSkico in June — by $7 million. makes sure those
at Denver Shane called the estate, located at 2435 W. Buttermilk Road, a “luxury” property that had all the right elements for ski the show buyer. stay tuned to the X Games
Namely, it sits on 44 acres and includes a 720-square-foot, three-car garage; a 563-square-foot guest home with a 440-square-foot, two-car Scott Condon garage; and a 4,769-square-foot, six-stall barn. It also sits high on Buttermilk Mountain with commanding views, The Aspen Times Shane noted. The estate’s property tax and special assessment bill was $54,318.96 in 2010, according to the county assessor’s office.
The Winter X Games doesn’t exactly have trouble getting noticed, but the Aspen figuresaren’t maximum exposure nev“This property provided acreage and dramatic views with still close proximity to downtown Aspen,” ShaneSkiing said.Co. “There many properties er hurts. like that out there. There are some spectacular properties out there but you typically don’t get a lot of land on Red Mountain or the The Skico will make sure that tensWest of thousands of people converging on Denver End.” for the biggest annual ski industry trade show are well aware of what’s happening famed slopes of Buttermilk. Designed by Aspen architect Robert Sinclair of Robert G. Sinclair Architectures, the home was completedon inthe 2008. However, it was originally Skico has set up the X Games Viewing listed two years earlier in 2006. From October 2007 through October 2009, it was listed at $60 million, its highest advertised price. Lounge directly in the middle of the Snow Industries America show at the Colorado Convention Center. It’s a little oasis amid It most recently was marketed at $47.5 million, Shane said, adding that the financial climate seemed ideal for the buyer to get a substantial Rustin Gudim The Aspen Times the frenetic activity in a convention hall big discount, in this case, oneBright, of $16 million. Australian snowboarder Torah center, a former Olympic and Winter X Games gold medalist, peruses auction items at enough to be an airport hangar for comWednesday’s Winter X Games Kick-Off Bash at the St. Regis. mercial aircraft. The SIA show runs Jan. 27-30, same as “I would say that my buyer, like many other buyers, understood the economic and real estate environment currently and was the X that Games. It attracts exists 468 exhibitors hawking 800-plus brands of merchandise, looking for value in his purchase,” Shane said. from the big-name ski manufacturers to small-town sock makers. It also attracts thousands of buyers from ski and snowThe purchase is the latest indicator of a resurgence in Pitkin County’s real estate market. board shops from coast to coast. Rick Carroll scaping & Maintenance employee Brad city prosecutor James True revealed the The ski show attracts “tons” of influThe Aspen Randell pleaded no contest charges agreement to Judge Brooke Peterson. or people trend-setters In theTimes month of August — the latest month available bytovalley-based Land Title Guarantee Co., whichencers tracks local who realareestate trendsin— connected to trespassing and destruction Peterson appeared aghast that Waters the ski industry, said Skico spokesman Jeff dollar volume of salesand climbed 31 percent August 2009. recruited someone to cut limbs from his Hanle. Many of the attendees are also some An Aspen homeowner a land-nearly of private property over — namely the 70-foot scaper he enlisted to prune limbs from a Douglas fir tree located next door. neighbor’s tree, even if the branches were of the most dedicated skiers and riders. So neighbor’s tree were both fined $550 by Waters also greed to pay $2,300 to encroaching his land. Skico wants to grab their attention, and The dollar volume allagreement sales in August wasService, nearlywhich $74.5will million, $57 million for the month in 2009. were 53 real estate the city of Aspen as part of of an Aspen Tree monitor compared “I find itto astonishing someone would possibly lure There them from Denver to Aspen All contents ©inCopyright 2006 The Aspen Times andailing aspentimes.com January 2011 11:01 / Powered by TECNAVIA announced Wednesday in County Municipal some of thepm games. the progress of the tree thatyear. was That send is somebody to cut of a tree some- 27,for transactions Pitkin in August, compared to 44 last an increase 20.5on percent. Court. illegally trimmed last summer. one else’s property,” the judge said. Couches and chairs are crowded around Daniel Waters, who owns a house at Neither defendant was required to 216 E. Hallam St.,2010 and Good Earth Landat Wednesday’s in which TREE A6 from the same point last Xyear, GAMESLand A32 Year-to-date through August,appear the dollar volumehearing, is $722.4 million, or an increase of 10.3 percent,
Barking up the wrong tree in West End
Title Guarantee Co. reported. Sales totaled $655 million for the first eight months of this year. rcarroll@aspentimes.com
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