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Page 20 — COLORADO REAL ESTATE JOURNAL — May 6-May 19, 2015
Colorado
by John Rebchook
When Fred Kummer first
started assembling the land for
Adam’s Rib Ranch in the Vail Val-
ley in 1973, he envisioned creating
a ski resort that would draw 9,000
skiers daily with 1,000 residential
units.
Almost 20 years and $30 million
later, Kummer, the founder of the
St. Louis-based HBE Corp., threw
in the towel on the ski resort, after
making the investment, after tir-
ing of knocking heads with Eagle
County residents who opposed it.
He also had to deal with a lot
of government red tape.
“I got tired of dealing with
the government. It’s an impos-
sible organization to do business
with,” said Kummer, who also
developed what was the Adam’s
Mark (now a Sheraton hotel along
the 16th Street Mall) told Rocky
Mountain Business Editor Rob
Reuteman in 1994.
Instead of a ski resort, Kummer
scaled back the size of the plan
and changed direction, turning
Adam’s Rib into a golf commu-
nity.
It wasn’t cheap.
He invested another $70 million
into the project.
Last month, he sold it.
The price wasn’t disclosed, but
records indicate that a Denver-
based investment group led by
Chad Brue of Brue Capital Part-
ners, along with Vail-based entre-
preneur Dan Bennett, owner and
operator of Southwest Greens of
Colorado, paid $21 million for it.
Brue Capital took out an $11
million loan fromFirstBank for the
purchase. Adam Sands of First-
Bank handled the loan for Brue.
Kummer in a recent interview
admitted that Adam’s Rib wasn’t
the best investment he ever made.
“I put a lot of money into it, and
I sold it for a little bit of money,”
Kummer told the St. Louis Busi-
ness Journal.
“At my age, I had decided that
I played around with the toy long
enough – that’s an expensive toy,
$100 million, so I disposed of it,”
Kummer added.
Eric and Martin Roth were
part of the CBRE team that listed,
marketed and sold Adam’s Rib
on behalf of
Kummer.
“Hewasget-
ting up there
in age − I think
he is in his 90s
− and he kind
of wanted to
wind down
and relax,”
Eric Roth said.
“Plus, living
in St. Louis, it was becomingmore
of a challenge for him to travel to
Colorado,” Roth said.
There was a great deal of inter-
est from prospective buyers, Roth
said.
“We had a significant amount of
interest from all around the coun-
try,” Roth said.
There were institutional buyers,
private equity firms and resort
operators interested in the 2,665-
acre spread. They even received
inquiries from buyers in Canada
andAsia, he said.
He estimated about half the pro-
spective buyers were from Colo-
rado and half from outside of the
state.
The property includes the pri-
vate Adam’s Mountain Country
Club with an 18-hole, champion-
ship Tom Weiskopf designed golf
course, a 40,000-square-foot club-
house and five member cottages,
and 97 multi-acre sites with five
spec homes.
The property also includes a
1,000-acre working ranch and a
500-acre future equestrian center.
Eric and Martin Roth would
tour the golf course in carts with
prospective buyers “and then we
would hop in a pickup truck” to
showthemthe rest of the property.
“I tell you, everyonewho looked
at it had the same reaction,” Eric
Roth said.
“Theywere all amazed just how
stunningly beautiful it is,” he said.
“Honestly, the photos of it don’t
do it justice. You really have to see
it firsthand to appreciate it.”
Brue Capital Partners, head-
quartered in the historic D&F
Clocktower building in down-
town Denver, outbid some pretty
big players, according to Roth.
“Chad (Brue) really wanted it,”
Roth said. “I believe he told me,
when we were taking the tour
he had golfed there once. He put
together a really good package to
buy it, although I signed a non-
disclosure agreement, so I cannot
disclose or talk about the price.”
In addition to the land, Brue also
purchased the water rights.
“The water rights were a very
important component for people
looking at the property,” Roth
said.
“Fred Kummer did a beautiful
job of securing all of the water
rights,” he said.
At first blush, it may seem out-
side of Brue Capital’s wheelhouse
to buyAdam’s Rib.
To date, Brue Capital’s high-
est-profile project is The Lab, a
77,500-sf, LEED-certified building
it is developing that is scheduled
to open soon at 17th and Platte
streets between LoHi and down-
town Denver.
It also owns about a dozen
warehouses in Colorado with a
total of about 412,000 sf. All of the
warehouses are in Denver, with
the exception of one in Colorado
Springs.
It also owns the Chateaux Verde
Apartments in Lakewood.
According to its website, Brue
Capital is seeking value-add
apartments, industrial properties
and select office buildings.
As far as apartments, it is focus-
ing on acquiring buildings west of
Interstate 25 that have 50 units or
more and were built in the 1970s
or 1980s.
It also is looking to acquire
industrial buildings constructed
in the 1970s and 1980s with high
vacancy rates, or even completely
empty.
Brue is seeking industrial prop-
erties that range in size from
10,000 sf to 50,000 sf. Currently, its
industrial properties in Colorado
range from 13,537 sf to 68,800 sf.
As far as office buildings, it is
seeking properties with deferred
maintenance, high vacancy rates
and environmental problems that
range in size from 25,000 sf to
100,00 sf and were built in the
1980s or 1990s.
Still, Roth thinks that Brue will
be a fine owner of Adam’s Rib.
Brue has “assembled a quality
teamwho will undoubtedly serve
as excellent stewards of the prop-
erty going forward.”
Frost Creek is the new brand for
Adam’s Rib, paying homage to
W.E. Frost, a settler on the prop-
erty in 1880 and the name of the
creek that bisects the property.
“We are excited to launch
Frost Creek and share all that
this extraordinary property and
club have to offer,” Brue said in a
release.s
Aerial photo of the Adam’s Rib Ranch in the Vail Valley
Eric Roth
T303.623.7876
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Victor Wooten’s Concerto for Electric Bass
MAY 9-10
SAT 7:30 T SUN 1:00
The Art of the Baroque
MAY 15
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Bobby McFerrin Sings And Conducts Gershwin
MAY 16
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A Weekend Of Star Wars
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