Colorado Real Estate Journal -
A boutique distillery is making big news in the town of Basalt. Woody Creek Distillers will make vodka, whiskey, bourbon and gin using Colorado-grown potatoes and grains. It will be located in the former Mountain Homefitters building at 60 Sunset Drive in MidValley Business Park. MartinMichael LLC acquired the 10,680-square-foot building from McMahon Properties LLC, Mountain Homefitters’ real estate ownership group, for $1.59 million. “It really is an exciting thing for this area. It’s something totally different,” said Linda Huntsman of Huntsman Real Estate, who represented the seller with James Mason of Spirit of the West Property Group. Businesses in MidValley Business Center are hoping the distillery generates activity that will benefit others within the center, she said. “The town of Basalt is excited about it. I think everybody wanted to see this happen,” Huntsman added. While small by Denver standards, the distillery’s new building is large for Basalt, and Mountain Homefitters left a gap in the community when it closed its upscale furniture store in mid- 2010. Woody Creek Distillers, operated by Mark Kleckner, hopes to create a showplace for the entire area. Kleckner said he and partner Mary Scanlan have been looking to open a distillery the last couple of of years, and the current real estate market was an opportunity “to get us world class space in a world-class part of the country.” “I couldn’t image a nicer place to do this,” he said. The distillery will produce 10,000 cases a year, initially selling vodka and gin. (Whiskey and bourbon have to be aged two years and will be available in 2014.) It plans to open toward the end of the second quarter. Potatoes are being grown at a ranch in Little Woody Creek. Other ingredients also will be procured either in the Roaring Fork Valley or in Colorado. Rowland + Broughton Architecture and Urban Design is designing the distillery. Richard Klein of Skinnyfish Architecture is the architect of record. Joshua Landis, formerly of Aspen Real Estate Co. and now with SDS Real Estate, represented the buyer in the transaction.