ESTES PARK, CO-Sheldon Good & Company Colorado will be auctioning the Wild Basin Lodge in the mountains. The property adjoins the Rocky Mountain National Park at the park's south entrance, and sits along the St. Vrain River. The Wild Basin Lodge can be operated as a highly profitable, first-class specialty resort, or as a religious, organizational or corporate retreat. The auction will be conducted at the Denver Marriott Southeast Hotel at 1:00 p.m., Sept. 30.
The lodge building, which consists of 18,800 sf of improvements on 13 acres with river frontage, features classic Colorado mountain styling and furnishings, including numerous “Old West” and Native American collectables. The lodge can accommodate 20 guests in its five sleeping rooms and one suite, as well as other guests or staff in the two dormitory style rooms.
Other features include a full commercial kitchen and restaurant, which has served as many as 800 guests in a single day.
The Wild Basin Lodge has a full bar and lounge, which offers live music on a regular basis. In addition, there is a banquet room with its own bar, satellite kitchen, catering stations and prep areas. The restaurant and banquet room are on separate levels and each opens to a large covered deck, allowing guests on both levels the luxury of dining only a few feet from the roaring St. Vrain. The Wild Basin Lodge even has its own deli.
When purchased by the current owners, Nils and Denice Kristoffersen, the Wild Basin Lodge was being operated in a limited fashion as a mountain resort.
The Kristoffersens quickly saw an opportunity to expand vertically and horizontally into the untapped market of catering to wedding and special events clientele, and business skyrocketed. Yearly revenues in 2001 were only $297,000. In 2002, the first year of operation under the current ownership, revenues jumped to $823,000, and will reach $1 million or more in 2003.
“The best features of The Wild Basin Lodge are that our wedding business is year 'round, we have bride's and groom's families come here from all over the U.S. as well as from foreign countries, and we do not rely on tourism to be successful., ” according to the Kristoffersens said.
“The auction of the Wild Basin Lodge, with a minimum bid of only $1.95 million offers operators, entrepreneurs and individuals a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to acquire a first-class specialty resort that has been meticulously conceived and maintained, universally acclaimed, and with proven profitability, at a fraction of replacement cost,” says Jim MacDonnell, Executive Managing Director of Sheldon Good. “In addition to the real estate, the offering includes all equipment and furnishings needed to continue the business uninterrupted, should someone decide to do so. It is extremely unfortunate for the Kristoffersens, that after developing a very successful business operation, that health issues are forcing them to sell as quickly as possible.”
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