Cableland, one of the biggest, brashest and most unique homes in Denver, is hitting the sales block. Mayor John Hickenlooper and Linda Childears, president and CEO of the Daniels Fund, today announced an agreement to sell Cableland and donate the proceeds to the Denver Scholarship Foundation.
The home was built in 1986 and 1987 by Bill Daniels, a cable-TV pioneer. Daniels bought adjoining homes, tore them down and built the 19,500-square-foot main mansion – with 24,000-square-foot when the enclosed patio is included – of the estate at 4150 Shangri La Drive, near South Colorado Boulevard and Alameda Avenue. Daniels completed his version of urban redevelopment long before the phrase “scrape off” crept into the real estate lexicon. A dozen years ago, when his health was failing, Daniels donated Cableland to serve as the mayor of Denver’s residence (if the mayor wanted to live there) and and to be used for fund-raisers. More than $12 million has been raised for charities and non-profits at Cableland. Neither Hickenlooper, nor his predecessor, Wellington Webb, used the estate as their main home. Although Daniels was a lifelong Republican, and he knew that the mayor of Denver was surely going to be a Democrat, he didn’t care. He wanted the “House that Bill Built” to serve as a legacy long after he was gone. Daniels, who was born in Greeley, died in March 2000 at the age of 79.
Unique opportunity
“Cableland has provided an attractive venue for many gatherings in our city and is a favorite location for local charity events,”Hickenlooper said. “Today, we have a unique opportunity to invest in our future generations. We are pleased to partner with the Daniels Fund and the Denver Scholarship Foundation to provide greater access to college scholarships for Denver’s students.”
Daniels donated Cableland to the city in 1998 to serve as the mayor’s official residence and be utilized for certain civic and charitable purposes. An agreement at the time stated the property would revert to the Daniels Fund should it no longer serve the needs of the city.
Childears, the president and CEO of the Daniels Fund, said Bill Daniels was pleased to donate Cableland as the mayor’s residence and he “would have been delighted that it has been home to major events, especially those that helped raise money for charitable purposes. With the economic downturn and the rising cost of higher education, affording the cost of college is increasingly difficult for many students. After careful consideration, our board decided that converting the value of the property into scholarships for students in Denver made perfect sense.”
Not a snap decision
The city and the Daniels Fund began meeting nearly two years ago to discuss the potential sale of the home after agreeing that Cableland could be put to a better use to further Bill Daniels’ philanthropic wishes. The board of the Daniels Fund agreed that money from the sale of Cableland must go to the Denver Scholarship Foundation for use by eligible students who want to attend designated Colorado institutions of higher learning.
Today’s announcement is the first in a number of steps required before the sale can move forward. The agreement to sell must be reviewed and approved by the Denver City Council and an appraisal must be completed. The Daniels Fund and City Council must also approve any offer to buy the home.
$5 million home?
Jan Nelsen, a top broker and co-owner of Kentwood City Properties, estimated the home would fetch in the neighborhood of $5 million. The home has 14-bathrooms, four bedrooms and 88 TV sets – including 64 of them on a “viewing wall,” a fitting feature for a cable TV guru. The home inclues a 44,000-gallon, 1,102-square-foot swiming pool, staff quarters, a laser security system, an indoor resistance exercise pool, an ice crean bar and even a 12-foot fireman’s pole.
“Wow! I love that house,” Nelsen said. “I’m guessing it’s going to be listed at more than $5 million, but I think it would be a nice $5 million house. I’m not sure how dated it is. The buyer might spend a lot of money upgrading it. I think the buyer might be some CEO of a company that does a lot of entertaining.”
The home is one of the biggest in Denver, although homes that size are not uncommon in Cherry Hills, she noted. The historic Phipps mansion, which Tim Gill and his partner recently agreed to buy from the University of Denver, has 33,123 square feet, and sits on 6.5 acres. The Phipps estate was priced at $9.2 million. An agent has been chosen to list Cableland, but the name has not been released as details are still being worked out, according to Hickenlooper’s office.
Dee Chirafisi, co-owner of Kentwood City Properties, said Cableland will be a difficult one to price.
“It is such a unique property and unique location,” Chirafisi said. “I think the buyer could be just about anyone. When someone asked me that questions about the Phipps Mansion I thought a foundation would have purchased it and it ended up being a couple who will use it as their primary home. So it could be a foundation, organization or a couple or a family I do know that it will be someone who is looking for a one-of- a- kind, found-no-where-else, property.”
The city intends to designate another property in Denver as the mayor’s official residence. No decisions have been made.
The Denver Scholarship Foundation was founded in 2006 to provide college advice and scholarships for low-income Denver Public Schools students. To date, DSF has given away 1,658 scholarships totaling $5.2 million and helped to increase the number of DPS graduates enrolling in college by 52 percent.
“The Denver Scholarship Foundation is thrilled that the proceeds of the eventual sale will help Denver students achieve their college goals,” said Cindy Abramson, executive director of the Denver Scholarship Foundation. “Today’s announcement is just the first step in a long process, but we are delighted to know that even more young people in Denver will receive the financial support they need to attend college,”
