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Fractional owner prevails over Dancing Bear

Rick Carroll
The Aspen Times
A judge has ruled that the owner of a fractional at the luxury Dancing Bear Aspen can collect all rental proceeds from leasing out his unit.
Jeremy Wallace/The Aspen Times |

A judge has ruled that a fractional owner at the Dancing Bear Aspen Residence Club can collect all rental proceeds from leasing out his unit.

Pitkin County District Judge Chris Seldin delivered the order last month, nearly one year after Thomas H. Wilson sued the Dancing Bear Residences Owners Association in U.S. District Court in Denver. The case was later refiled in Pitkin County.

Wilson bought his one-eighth unit in 2009, the complaint said. He initially received income from the rentals in 2009 and 2010, when the Dancing Bear was under previous ownership.



The one-eighth fractional ownership entitled Wilson to use the unit six weeks a year. His suit claimed he lost as much as $100,000 in rental income after Aspen development firm Sunrise Co. bought the Dancing Bear, located at 411 S. Monarch St., from DB Capital Holdings, which had gone bankrupt.

Income from Wilson’s rental went to the Dancing Bear Residences Owners Association, which claimed that the association, not the unit owner, was entitled to the lease proceeds. Seldin delivered his order in a summary judgment. The judge determined that language in the Dancing Bear’s covenants favored Wilson’s claim.




Sunrise officials were not available for comment last week. At the time Wilson filed the suit, Randall Bone, president of Sunrise, said the rules were clear.

“The issue is not about the rentals; it’s about the money,” Bone told The Aspen Times. “He would like to rent the unit out and keep the money, but the policy is the owners’ association rents it out and all of the money goes back to the owners’ association.”

Wilson, a full-time resident of California, could not be reached for comment.

rcarroll@aspentimes.com