Ex-U S West exec misses golf view
For years, former US West CEO and chairman Jack MacAllister had a window view of The International golf tournament from his custom home near the 10th hole of the Castle Pines Golf Club.
Besides plenty of windows to watch the action, the 7,500-square-foot home is lit by a 100-foot-long curved skylight that runs the length of the home.
“We loved that home, and we still miss it. It was too big for us. We were rattling around in it,” said MacAllister, 78. He and his wife moved to the Crested Butte area to be closer to family in the Gunnison valley.
MacAllister relocated to Denver from Omaha in 1983 to head the newly created US West, a spinoff created with the breakup of the old AT&T. He ran US West until his retirement in 1990. The company is now owned by Qwest.
The custom features of the home made it a tougher sell, and it took two years to find a buyer. The home, which listed for $1.38 million, eventually sold for $1.2 million to marketing executive John Baron, owner of Denver’s GBSM, and his wife, Suzanne.
American dream in a Euro-castle
Thomas and Birgitte Sandgaard are living the American dream in a European-style castle in Castle Rock.
Nine years ago, the Denmark natives moved to Colorado, where Thomas Sandgaard started the medical device company Zynex Medical in a one-bedroom apartment with $4,000 and a credit card.
“I bootstrapped it from there,” he said. “We’re fortunate enough to live the American dream, coming from absolutely nothing and fighting through every closed door.”
The Sandgaards paid $1.2 million to Jeannine and James Leffel, vice president of sales for Pentax, for the 8,300-square-foot home, called Chateau Eleve. The Leffels relocated to Florida.
“It’s got a lot of incredibly high-quality detail to it,” Sandgaard said. “It’s a small version of a European castle.”
The five-bedroom, three-bath custom-built home features radiant-heat floors throughout. The grand room has gold crown moldings and a wood-burning fireplace.
“The kitchen is just incredible, too,” Thomas Sandgaard said. “We plan on spending more time in the kitchen.”
Vet gets room for horses to roam
While some people try to avoid bringing their work home with them, Sheryl Scolnick is moving residences to accomplish just that.
Scolnick, a veterinarian and co-founder of Denver’s Pets On Broadway Animal Hospital, recently purchased a $1.74 million home on East Layton Drive in Cherry Hills.
The reason: The home sits on 3 acres, which will allow Scolnick to care for her two horses, Tommy and Lambert. Her husband, two children and three dogs will move into the home once renovations are complete in March.
“It’s like living in a city setting, but it is very quaint,” said Scolnick, 42. “Where else can you find 3 acres that are just a hop, skip and a jump away from the Cherry Creek mall?”
The four-bedroom, six-bathroom home covers about 4,500 square feet, she said.
Scolnick, who moved to Colorado 12 years ago from Toronto, is in the midst of expanding the kitchen, living room and foyer, as well as redoing other parts of the home.
“The house needed a fair amount of work, but I thought it was a good deal.”
The seller was Morgan W. Wait, a Greenwood Village stock broker.
