Cordillera – Fifteen years ago, this exclusive golf, spa and second-home enclave located above Edwards was known as one of the Vail Valley’s most exclusive.
By 2001, once Kensington Partners had sold most of the roughly 1,200 homesites, it stopped marketing the property.
“We weren’t on the map,” said Elise Micati, who retired to Cordillera with her husband in 2002.
By 2003, all that most people had heard about Cordillera was related to the accusation that Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant sexually assaulted an employee here.
Since Cordillera’s development began, the number of luxury-home options in Eagle County had exploded. Average home- sale prices in the area have soared from $130,000 in 1991 to $846,871 this year.
Cordillera’s property values weren’t keeping up. To help elevate the community’s profile, a group of homeowners formed a marketing committee last fall.
“Clearly, our story and our message weren’t getting out there,” said Bob Vanourek, original chairman of the marketing committee. “There were a lot of misperceptions about Cordillera.”
Many local real-estate agents now consider Cordillera, at an average sale price of $420 per square foot, a good deal compared with newer communities. For example, the new Westin Riverfront Resort & Spa in Avon recently sold 50 condominiums at an average price of $1,100 per square foot.
“Cordillera is the best bargain in the valley right now,” said Joni White Taylor, president of Sonnenalp Real Estate in Vail. “Anywhere else in the valley, with that quality of construction, prices are significantly higher.”
And continuing to increase home values, membership numbers at the club and occupancy at the lodge is the key to keeping the self-sufficient community up and running.
To date, the marketing committee has created a comprehensive plan, started advertising in several high-end publications, launched a new website and hired a full-time marketing director.
The effort is being funded by the home owners association and the Cordillera Metro District.
One group they’re targeting is local real-estate agents. Because Cordillera has long had a relationship with Slifer Smith & Frampton, the largest real-estate firm in the county, other local brokers admit they don’t push the community as hard.
The marketing team has been reaching out to non-Slifer brokers, creating an on-site resource room to help area real-estate agents show off the community. They’re also finishing a promotional DVD for potential buyers.
“Our major target market is right in front of us; we just needed to start romancing other Realtors,” said Micati, who spent 15 years in marketing at Pfizer Pharmaceutical Co. and is now chairwoman of the committee. “Anyone who is in town kicking the tires, we’ve got to get them up to look at Cordillera.”
There are about 60 homes and 60 undeveloped lots for sale in Cordillera. The average home sells for $2.5 million; undeveloped lots sell for an average of $500,000.
Cordillera home sales are on the rise. Through September, total property sales were up 43 percent over the same period in 2005, to $116 million.
“Part of it is market turnaround. You can’t discredit that,” said Micati. “But this marketing thing has given us immense amounts of awareness.”
Business at the 56-room Lodge & Spa at Cordillera – where Bryant’s accuser was employed – is also improving. Occupancy rates averaged 58 percent for the first half of 2006, compared with 34 percent for the same period last year. RockResorts, the luxury-hotel subsidiary of Vail Resorts Inc., took over management of the hotel last year.
“What this property needed was good marketing, and RockResorts has really brought that to the table,” said Chris Hanen, general manager of the lodge, which underwent a $6 million renovation two years ago.
Criminal charges against Bryant were dropped.
Cordillera has also opened up its exclusive club to nonresidents, helping to boost membership sales by 75 percent this year.
“Cordillera has been extremely successful,” said Avon resort developer Jerry Jones. “The problem now is that some homeowners want to resell their properties, and it has less exposure than when the developer was there. It’s good that homeowners are taking on more responsibility.”
Staff writer Julie Dunn can be reached at 303-954-1592 or jdunn@denverpost.com.
