Colorado Real Estate Journal -

Local investment group acquires ‘iconic’ Gardens of the Gods Club

by Jennifer Hayes

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An iconic Colorado Springs property that drew interest nationwide sold to a buyer close to home.

A consortium of local investors led by Brenda Smith and Judy Mackey acquired the Gardens of the Gods Club for an undisclosed price.

The 260-acre country club and luxury golf course, located at 3320 Mesa Road, was opened more than 60 years ago. Dallas oilman Al Hill and his wife, Margaret, who purchased the property in 1949 with the goal of building a resort community and private club with a variety of recreational amenities, opened the club in 1951.

Sunrise Co., which sold the Gardens of the Gods Club, had invested more than $5 million in capital improvements over the six years of its ownership.

It purchased the property from Hill Development in 2007.

“Garden of the Gods Club enjoys a colorful history, coupled with strong financial performance. The Hills had great vision, then Sunrise reinvested in the property for many years and now the new owners have a great opportunity to build upon that success,” said Jeff Woolson, executive vice president with CBRE Hotels.

Woolson, with Mark Darrington and Larry Kaplan, both senior vice presidents with CBRE Hotels in Denver, represented the seller.

“There was great interest nationally in the property,” Darrington said of the asset’s wide appeal. “It’s an iconic property in a spectacular setting.

“The new owners will continue the great tradition of the Garden of the Gods Club,” he added, noting the new ownership group is expected to make overall improvements to the property as well as add a wellness center.

Garden of the Gods Club includes an 83-room lodge, country club and recreation center. The lodge is open to the public and features indoor and outdoor spaces for meetings, weddings and special events.

Lodge amenities include a spa, salon, fitness studio, swimming pool, and two indoor and seven outdoor tennis courts.

The 27-hole Kissing Camels at Garden of the Gods Club is a private country club with a 31,500-square-foot clubhouse.

A stand-alone recreation center includes a clubhouse, swimming pool, tennis courts, playground and sport court.

Other News

Earlier this year, Institutional Mall Investors LLC purchased The Promenade Shops at Briargate.

Public records indicate the more than 200,000-square-foot center and surrounding land sold for $96.81 million to the Illinois-based firm.

The Promenade Shops at Briargate, located at 1885 Briargate Parkway, off of Interstate 25, is Colorado Springs’ only upscale outdoor lifestyle center.

The center, which opened in 2003, is home to tenants including Apple, Banana Republic, Europtics, GoLite, Pottery Barn, Ted’s Montana Grill, Ulta and Williams-Sonoma.

U.S. Department of Defense contractor General Dynamics inked a 16,034-sf lease at One Gateway Plaza.

The contractor leased the space at 1330 Inverness Drive in Colorado Springs from 1330 Inverness Drive Holdings.

Randy Miller of Sierra Commercial Real Estate was the listing broker.

Farmers Insurance recently signed a 10,038-sf lease at Tech Center II in Colorado Springs.

Farmers leased the space at 5555 Tech Center Drive from Westminster Tech II LLC, which was represented in the lease by UGL/DTZ Americas.

Kent Mau, Brian Wagner and Randy Miller of Sierra Commercial Real Estate represented the landlord.

Vacancy rates among Colorado Springs apartments took a step backward during the third quarter, according to Apartment Insights’ recent Statistics/Trends report.

Apartments saw an increase in vacancy of 19 basis points to 5.91 percent – 15 bps higher than the rate a year ago.

The increase was widespread in both the oldest and newest communities and in more than half of the submarkets around the city.

The third quarter in the Colorado Springs apartment market also saw absorption of a negative 25 units even though the inventory of properties in lease-up is the highest in nine years at more than 1,000 units, the report noted.

Despite the rise in vacancy, rents continued moving upward, posting the largest quarterly increase since the inception of AI’s survey seven years ago. Rent increased $17 to a new high of $779, or 96 cents per sf. The increase also represents an annual increase of 2.9 percent.

At the time of the report’s release, two 50-plus communities totaling 256 units sold.

The communities, both built in 1973, sold at an average of $56,027 per unit.

The report noted that the pipeline of proposed apartment development continues to increase in the city, several of which are close to obtaining all city approvals. AI cautions that absorption will need to improve to prevent vacancy from moving above 6 percent in the coming year; otherwise rent growth is likely to slow from its current pace.