ASPEN —
Erik Cavarra sees continual growth and capital investment into the Pitkin County Real Estate Markets for 2012-13.
This is a great option for investors to place capital in proven market with return demand and strong interest within the area. Erik Cavarra sees not only Single Family Homes, and Condos peaking with more revenue and transactions, but also the commercial market.
We call the snow “white gold”, becuase when it falls it creates excitement within the market place. It brings the ever present smile and allure that a diamond would as it catches the eyes of it’s most sophisticated handler.
Two downtown commercial buildings were officially sold on Monday,
capping a frenzied year of real estate transactions in Pitkin
County.
What’s known as Ellie’s Building at 101 S. Mill St. — the home of
American National Bank, Pinon’s restaurant and retailers Lululemon Athletica and
Bandana — closed for $12 million. The seller was Ellie’s Building LLC, a holding
company managed by Andrew Hecht, Ronald Garfield and Steven Hansen.
The
buyer was Aspen Branch Holdings LLC, managed by Sturm Financial Group Inc. of
Denver. Sturm Financial is the parent company of American National Bank, which
has more than 30 banking branches in Colorado, Wyoming and Kansas, including the
Aspen location. Thus, the banking company was purchasing the structure from its
longtime landlord.
The building, at the corner of East Main and South
Mill streets, was constructed in 1886. In the mid-1950s, it became the home of a
ski shop operated by Elli Iselin, an Austrian competitive skier who made Aspen
her home and helped the city to become recognized as a winter resort.
Through her store, she also introduced European ski fashions to the
state for the first time. She died in 1991. Though the building was officially
named “Ellie’s,” there is no “e” at the end of Iselin’s first
name.
Another sale logged at the Pitkin County Clerk and Recorder’s
Office on Monday involved Amelia’s Building at 407 E. Hyman Ave., in the Hyman
Avenue pedestrian mall.
It sold for $3.2 million. The seller consisted of
four separate parties: Amelia Kopp, Stan Kopp, Robert Zupancis and the Amelia L.
Kopp Family Trust, according to Karen Setterfield, of Setterfield and Bright,
the broker on the deal. The buyer was listed only as 407 E. Hyman Ave. LLC, and
Setterfield declined to name the person or people behind that
company.
Currently the 3,570-square-foot building’s tenants are Noori’s
Collection on the second floor and Aspen T-Shirt Co. on the first floor. The
building had been listed for $3.5 million and was on the market for four years,
Setterfield said.
“The buyer has not decided what he wants to do with the
building,” Setterfield said.
The two Monday transactions follow two other
high-profile commercial closings on Friday: the 47-year-old 16,900-square-foot
Mountain Plaza, at the corner of East Cooper Avenue and South Galena Street, for
$22 million; and the 27-year-old, 9,700-square-foot Volk Plaza, across South
Galena Street from Mountain Plaza, for $17.25 million.
Mountain Plaza has
many tenants, including Kemo Sabe, Ryno’s Pies and Pints, Le Tub and Keating
Fine Art Gallery. Volk Plaza houses Paradise Bakery. Plans call for a
redevelopment of the Mountain Plaza lot, which would mean tearing down the
existing structure. No such plans are in the works for Volk Plaza, Setterfield
said.
She noted that expected changes this year to capital-gains and
estate tax laws led to the flurry of real estate activity in late 2012 in Pitkin
County and across the United States.
At more than $1.46 billion recorded
in 2012, the dollar volume of all Pitkin County real estate sales bested the
annual levels from 2008 through 2011 but still falls short of 2007’s $2.52
billion.
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