A prominent Colorado family duped Aspen voters three years ago into approving a hotel at the base of Aspen Mountain’s Lift 1A, according to the man responsible for vandalism over the weekend, then turned around and made tens of millions of dollars last week when they sold the approval to a Russian-born billionaire.
What s the Big Deal runs Mondays and is based on the prior week s most expensive property transaction recorded in the Pitkin County Clerk & Recorder s Office.
A Miami-based development firm founded by a Russian-born billionaire paid $76.25 million this week for nearly 1 acre of land at the base of Aspen Mountain where the sellers had planned to build a slope-side hotel called the Gorsuch Haus. This week’s closing amount surpassed last year’s price by more than seven times.