They have a bank commitment from Guaranty Bank & Trust to finance the project, which will anchor a mixed-use development that will include an office building for Janus, as well as a retail component.

The two penthouse units in the hotel will sell for more than $1 million, while the smallest units will sell for just under $300,000 and the bigger one-bedroom units will be priced just under $500,000. Selby says.

It's impossible to say what the units would rent for, because the hotel won't open until 2004.

Investors buy condo hotel unit for the mortgage tax breaks, depreciation and cash flow.

Guaranty Bank & Trust made the loan commitment on the project.

Most buyers will likely live there for no more than two to four weeks, and will rent them to guests for the rest of the year, Selby says, although he expects the penthouse buyers will live their full time. Selby's company will manage the rental units, or owners can do it themselves, or hire someone else, he says.

Owners probably will stay there for long weekends, rather than extensive stays, so at any given time many units will be available for guests, he says. And he expects many investors to buy them who will never use the units.

''Half the resort hotels in the mountains are condos,'' John Montgomery, president of Horwath Horizon Hospitality Consulting/Montgomery & Associates tells GlobeSt.com.''I think it's a neat idea. I think they can be credited with thinking outside of the box with this type of financing.''

Montgomery says his only concern is that the service is as consistent and as first-class as at any luxury hotel.

Both Selby and Montgomery, in separate interviews, tell GlobeSt.com they know of no other condo hotels in Denver. Selby tells GlobeSt.com that he thinks other developers will launch condo hotels here.

''I think a condo hotel would be perfect in the Central Platte Valley, for example,'' he says.