Denver Post

Fore sight
With Intrawest's move near, developers pouring $1 billion into Grand County
By Jason Blevins
Denver Post Business Writer

Sunday, September 22, 2002 - GRANBY - Grand Elk Ranch developers are betting nearly $1 billion that Grand County will be Colorado's next resort playground for second homeowners.

Working ahead of world-leading resort developer Intrawest's pending move into Winter Park, Grand Elk investors are planting a 520-acre, 800-home golf ranch in Granby, planning a pair of private slopeside clubs at Winter Park ski area, expanding a clubhouse marina on Lake Granby and buying an additional 1,750-acre ranch that will quintuple their land holdings.

And they're moving fast. The diverse investment team, backed by well-known investment firm Legg Mason, has thrown $30 million into its projects since conjuring up a resort vision for Grand County 16 months ago.

"It's critical that we put our money where our mouth is," says Jerry Jones, the impetus to Grand Elk.

Jones initially invested $3 million. His partners Larry Martin and Donald Heller tripled that and then culled another $8 million from Legg Mason. That was just a start.

The team now is sketching plans for a host of ranchettes grouped inside a fly-fishing mecca on the ranch it hopes to soon acquire. The ranch boasts more than 2 miles of Colorado River and senior water rights. It also will have room for two golf courses and a stretch of commercial development rimmed with higher-density homes, Jones says.

In Granby, where Grand Elk is laying infrastructure for 800 golf-community homes, All the plans fell flat.

"Everyone told us, 'Yeah, we've heard that before,"' says Steve Bromberg, general manager of the ranch.

So the group sodded a golf course before paving a road. The main entrance is still dirt and only a couple cabins have been built, but the course hosted 150 rounds one Saturday earlier this month. The giant clubhouse will be ready for golfers by fall.

"It was an atypical approach," says Bromberg.

And it's an approach that has swayed leaders in Granby, which stands to double in population once the project reaches fruition.

"It's comforting for a town manager to have a developer follow through with what they've promised they are going to do in fairly record time and in a quality fashion," says Granby Town Manager Tom Hale.

It has worked so well that Marise Cipriani across the highway is annexing her 5,000-acre ski and golf resort SolVista into the town.

"It really puts us on the map," says Hale, noting that the town once known for speed traps will soon be a ski and golf play land.

The Grand Elk team also has helped the town develop a plan to issue bonds to pay for the new community's infrastructure as well as help offset impacts in Granby.

The appeal of Grand Elk is primarily price. The average lot price, which includes a family club membership, is $120,000.

Front Range residents own 73 percent of Grand County's second homes, 62 percent of condos and 63 percent of vacant residential lots, according to recent study of the county's housing. Almost 70 percent of the buyers at Grand Elk are from the Front Range, and many of those are upgrading form existing digs in Grand County.

"I'm really excited about it," says James Larsen, a Highlands Ranch homeowner who is beginning to build a home on one of two lots he bought at Grand Elk after shopping for a vacation home in Beaver Creek, Copper and Vail. "We looked pretty much all around, but we were most impressed with the Fraser Valley as well as the development capabilities of Grand Elk. And we liked the amenities. There's year-round entertainment up there. We are going to be up there every weekend."

Dr. Christine Esola and her husband, Raymond, of Greeley, bought a home at Grand Elk after shopping in Vail, Breckenridge, Frisco and Copper.

"We looked quite a bit in other communities, and a big appeal was not having to drive through Eisenhower Tunnel," says Esola. "Plus we all ski, and we have a 10-year-old who golfs, and we play tennis and water sports. It's nice not to have to drive to go do something. It's all there for us."

The amenities offered at Grand Elk add to its appeal. A private club beneath the Zephyr Lodge at the base of Winter Park ski area gives homeowners a jostle-free spot to gear up for a ski day as well as a fireplace for aprs. Jones and his crew also are making plans for a new Winter Park Alpine Club, which is not a part of the Grand Elk club but will be available to Grand Elk homeowners.

The Winter Park club will feature 24 three-bedroom units divided among six owners, 80 parking spots, full spa and gym, and a slopeside pool.

Jones is soliciting bids from several fractional-ownership club operators and has set the initial membership price at $12,000 for folks who don't buy into a fractional unit at the club.

"We feel this will upgrade the whole base of Winter Park," says Jones, noting that his research as a resort consultant shows private clubs at ski areas posting the largest profit margins for resort companies. "We think this will turn the volume up."

Winter Park and all of Grand County have been overlooked in the resort real estate development game that exploded in Colorado the past decade. But developers are making up for lost ground and getting into the game before world-leading resort developer Intrawest takes the reins at Winter Park. The benefit of starting late is the ability to shamelessly pick up the most successful aspects of development from other areas.

Jones says the private clubs, the myriad fractional ownership opportunities available at both the ski area and Grand Elk, and the multiactivity access that comes with each purchase are all successful characteristics of projects in Aspen, Vail, Telluride and Beaver Creek.

"We really are copying what we've seen around the state," he said.