COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.—Real estate broker Steve Kenney pounded bright yellow “For Sale” signs into the ground Tuesday in front of a newly excavated driveway leading to vacant land. Nothing unusual—except for the location, location, location.
The 37.2-acre parcel runs smack through a popular hiking, mountain biking and nature-gazing area above Helen Hunt Falls. Colorado Springs’ founder, Gen. William Jackson Palmer, originally owned the property, which contains the remnants of a cabin he built and used.
Because the property is flanked on three sides by city-owned North Cheyenne Canon Park, and on the north side by Pike National Forest, the land appears to be public as well. No fences or signs have indicated the property is private—until the real estate signs began appearing.
The land had been willed as an inheritance for several generations, first to Palmer’s administrative assistant, then to her groundskeeper, then to his sons. Numerous attempts by the heirs to negotiate a deal with the city to buy the land and preserve it as open space failed, Kenney said.
In April 2005, three local couples bought the pristine site that boasts to-die-for views of the city, the foothills and the waterfalls. After sitting quietly on the investment for which they paid $900,000, the owners put it on the market, with development in mind.
The parcel is listed for $1.75 million, although six parcels could be sold separately without a zoning change, Kenney said. He and his wife, along with Jim Higgins and Audrey Jaramillo-Higgins and Jim and LaFonda Darnall, all of Colorado Springs, are joint owners under a limited-liability corporation called Rare Properties.
The former owners, Bill and Bob Powell, carried half, or $450,000, of the loan, which they stipulated must be donated to Focus on the Family when the note is paid off no later than April 2010, Kenney said.
The land includes an upper gravel parking lot at the juncture of High Drive and Gold Camp Road, where hikers and bikers park before hitting one of numerous trails. A portion of both roads also runs through the land, but government rights of way allow for public access. Another 2-acre wedge of the private land lies between Gold Camp Road and High Drive.
The steep terrain is buildable, Kenney said, and the owners envision a retreat center built on one parcel off Gold Camp Road, with single-family homes possible for other sites.
An ad in the Wall Street Journal, listing “rare mountain property: first time offered,” drew 1,300 inquiries, Kenney said.
“We’re talking with several interested parties, but no negotiations are under way,” he said.
Kenney said it’s important to the owners to retain the natural beauty of the area and not have it “overly developed.”
“It would be a shame for the hillside to become a housing development,” he said.
To prevent that, Kenney said he and his partners are considering placing covenants on the land to restrict what buyers could do. Building sites also are tucked among towering evergreens and hidden from public view, he said.
Still, Kenney said he expects criticism. His presence erecting the signs Tuesday drew several comments from passers-by.
“I suppose we have to share the area, but I’m not crazy about this idea at all,” said Mary Geihsler, a west side resident who frequently hikes around Helen Hunt Falls. “This is a wonderful getaway—so accessible and so gorgeous. It makes me want to cry. But one thing you can count on is change.”
The city has been interested in acquiring the property to preserve as open space but has been constrained by finances, said Chris Lieber, manager of the Trails, Open Space and Parks conservation program.
It’s not looking like a possibility this year, either, he said, because sales tax revenues are down and Trails and Open Space and Parks has earmarked what money it has for other projects.
