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| 2/4/2010 1:54:00 PM | Email this article • Print this article |
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| Rebirth Approaching
The Fairplay Hotel, closed for nearly a year and a half, is under contract to be purchased in a deal to close March 3. (Photo by Bernie Nagy/The Flume) |
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Fairplay Hotel under contract
Tom Locke
Flume Editor
The Fairplay Hotel, a historic landmark that has been closed since Sept. 15, 2008, is under contract to be sold, according to a confirmation by Marge Hayden, broker-owner of Fairplay-based Nelson Realty, which has been listing the prominent property.
"It's under contract. Scheduled to close March 3," said Hayden.
Hayden said that an escrow deposit has been received, but "nothing's ever done 'til it's done." She said she could not disclose any details about the buyer or the sale price.
She did confirm that the last listing price for the hotel, which is at 500 Main St. in the heart of Fairplay, was $400,000, which has been in effect since last fall. The initial listing price was $449,000, she said.
The Flume has learned that the spearhead of the purchase and operator for the hotel will be Constance Tiel, who has recently been living in New Orleans and owns property in Park County. It is not clear whether Tiel will have other investors.
A search of the Park County Assessor's Web site, shows that a Constance Anne Tiel is a co-owner of a two-acre parcel of vacant land valued at $25,000 in the Indian Mountain subdivision on Spearpoint Road southeast of Como and Jefferson. The other owners are Mary King Sawyer Robinson, Edward James Sawyer and Michael James Sawyer.
Messages left for Constance Tiel at two phone numbers in New Orleans were not returned.
Dale Fitting, owner of the Hand Hotel in Fairplay, said he had talked to Tiel in Fairplay, and she has experience running a bed and breakfast. The sale of the hotel is "huge for the town," he said. "It's kind of one of those mainstays of Main Street."
Linda Balough, director of the Park County Office of Historic Preservation, said that Tiel has experience in the hospitality industry, plans hands-on management, and plans to open the restaurant as well as the hotel. She assumes Tiel will also open the bar in the hotel.
"She's rather savvy," Balough said. "I know that she's had at least a couple of bed and breakfasts that were pretty good-sized."
The Fairplay Hotel has 18 rooms, said Balough, so she assumes that the purchase is a step upward for Tiel.
A Jan. 30, 2009, article in The Flume noted that the hotel was listed at the time at $449,000 and that Hayden said it might take another $500,000 to get the property up and running. That would include about $250,000 for equipment for the kitchen, which then had only double stainless sink, she said at the time.
And another $250,000 would be needed for painting the rooms, new windows, repair or replacement of old flooring in the kitchen and meeting room, and other matters, she said then.
Balough said that it appears to her that Tiel knows what she's getting into. "My impression was it was a person who has the means to do what she intends to do," she said. "My impression is that she's not going into this blind."
Indeed, Balough thinks there's enormous potential in the hotel. "I think it has some serious potential," she said. "I've always felt this."
She said the summer market can take care of itself, but the winter market has not been tapped well in the past. She thinks that it could be a natural for aging baby boomers who want to ski maybe one day during a long weekend, but then find someplace to relax by the fire for another day or two and avoid the crowds of Breckenridge.
Plus, Tiel is interested in the local market too. "I know that she's very interested in being part of the community," Balough said. Tiel plans on "making it into something the locals will be very well attracted to."
Community importance
The hotel has significance for locals also because it is a prominent location, tends to be interpreted as a barometer for the town's health, and spins off business for other operations in Fairplay, said Balough.
In a separate e-mail, she elaborated: "I'm delighted that the hotel has found an owner who appreciates the importance of the history of the building, as well as its value to the town as a keystone business and a leader in attracting heritage-minded travelers to Fairplay. I look forward to the time we will see happy travelers flock to the hotel and consequently to the shops and other businesses in Fairplay and the surrounding area of Park County."
Gary Nichols, director of Park County tourism and community development, said in an e-mail that he had not heard about the hotel being under contract. But he stressed the importance of the hotel in Fairplay.
"Not only is the hotel a Fairplay landmark, it is also one of Park County's most valuable historic resources. Hopefully the new owners will re-establish what was once a destination attraction for visitors and popular meeting place for local residents," he said in the e-mail.
The seller
The building was bought at a foreclosure auction by lender Bayview Financial, a Coral Gables, Fla.-based lender that foreclosed on a $487,500 loan to David Meredith, who previously told The Flume that he bought the hotel in 2004 for $550,000 and lost about $500,000 on it.
Back when the hotel came on the market at $449,000, Balough called it "quite a bargain."
The square footage of the hotel is listed by the Assessor's Office as 14,040, so the cost per square foot at the last listed price of $400,000 would work out to $28.49.
With an investment of another $500,000 in the hotel, the total of $900,000 would work out to $64.10 per square foot.
Tax credits and grants
The Fairplay Hotel was originally built in 1873 but burned to the ground in 1920. Construction to rebuild it was started in 1922 and completed in 1923.
One big plus for the hotel is its Jan. 16, 2008, placement on the National Register of Historic Places by the National Park Service in Washington, D.C. The designation enables the owner to qualify for state and federal income tax credits and grants.
"If they qualified for a grant, they might get as much as half of the cost," Balough said back in January 2009. And the owner would be able to get 20 percent of the cost of refurbishment taken off of both federal and state income tax owed.
Grant money might also come from the Colorado Historical Society, she said at the time.
"The tax credits are pretty darn for sure," she said in January 2009. "The chances are better than 50-50 that they would get grants for that particular property."
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