The Snowmass Club changed hands on Friday for $9.1 million, according to Pitkin County Clerk and Recorder records.
Erik Cavarra believes Toll Golf will revitalize the Club and are true Club operators which will add a distinct advantage in the market.
The sale includes the club, its facilities, two restaurants and the 18-hole, semi-private golf course.
The Aspen Skiing Co. went under contract in December to sell the Snowmass Club to Toll Brothers, a luxury home builder. The Pennsylvania-based company’s golf and country club division will operate the facility and golf course.
David Richey, president of Toll Golf, said his company took control of the club on Friday, transferring all of its operations and IT systems away from SkiCo.
“It was a really massive conversion for 24 hours,” he said, adding the sale itself was just as complex. “It was a good transaction, it was a complicated one.”
Richey said the sale price was fair given that the facilities already exist and there is a current customer base.
“We were buying a business,” he said. “Some people will say they stole it and others will say it’s was pricey.”
Toll doesn’t plan to change the club’s policy that the public can play the course during certain time periods, at least for now, Richey said, but the company plans on making adjustments in the future.
“We’d like to see membership grow,” he said. “I think we’ll be sliding more to the private side.”
The Snowmass Club has more than 1,000 members who pay dues depending on their packages. The plan is to have the golf course open May 1.
Chris Council/Aspen Daily News
“I really don’t see any major changes right away,” Richey said, adding Toll Golf understands it has entered a unique community and wants to take its time to fit in appropriately.
Toll Golf is considering making some cosmetic changes to the facility in the near future. The Snowmass Club includes a 19,000-square-foot athletic facility, including outdoor pools, indoor and outdoor hot tubs, 13 tennis courts, a pro shop and a spa, as well as the Sage Restaurant and Bar. The sale also included the clubhouse and the Black Saddle Bar & Grille inside of it. The Jim Engh-designed golf course is a traditional Irish links, that from the longest tees is 7,008 yards for a par of 72.
The condos and fractional units surrounding the facility and golf course, which the SkiCo has owned for 23 years and remodeled in 2003, were not included in the sale as they are individually owned. However, the SkiCo does manage two homeowners’ associations in the development but does not own any units. SkiCo and Toll agreed that SkiCo will continue to manage the HOAs for another three years.
The roughly 200 to 275 seasonal and full-time employees are now employed by Toll Brothers, whose human resources personnel are on site. Richey said benefits, wages and compensation packages are likely better than what they had.
Richey praised the SkiCo and its senior staff for its handling of the sale. The Crown family of Chicago, which owns the SkiCo, will continue to have access to the club under the new ownership, he added.
“We’ve worked together nicely,” Richey said.
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