Snowmass monastery listed for $150 million with Denver ranch group
Mirr Ranch Group/Courtesy photo
One of the largest tracts of largely undeveloped land in Pitkin County recently hit the market for $150 million.
St. Benedict’s Monastery is for sale, nearly a year after the monks announced its impending closure.
“We’re really looking for a conservation buyer, or buyers, that understands the nuances and the pristine nature of (the property),” said the listing agent Ken Mirr of Mirr Ranch Group. “We don’t see this as another resort or a large-scale, high-density development; we see quite the opposite.”
The monastery was founded by a group of monks who came to Colorado from St. Joseph’s Abbey in Spencer, Massachusetts. The monks were formally part of the Cistercian Order of the Strict Observance, also known as Trappist, who draw their fundamental beliefs and lifestyle from the sixth century Rule of St. Benedict for monastic living.
The monks first bought the land in 1956. Since then, the approximate 3,700 acres and 18,000 square feet of space across a few structures on the land have been used for housing the brothers, worship space, a book store, cabins for monastic retreats, and old homestead facilities like a barn.
Mirr said that close to 1,200 acres of land on the property are irrigated for cattle grazing.
“They have a gentleman there from the (Roaring Fork) Valley who subleases and manages the cattle and helps put up the hay,” he said. “The property is kept in agricultural production as it was years ago.”
Mirr and the seller, the Trappist, hope to keep it that way via conservation easements or another land conservation strategy. For Mirr, an individual buyer enticed by conservation easements is the likeliest buyer scenario.
“It’s one thing to have a $20 or $30 million property, but something this large, and this price point is a lot different, a lot harder — in my experience — in doing pure public participation or private/public, but I don’t discount that (possibilty),” he said. “I think (it will attract) the unique nature of folks that are attracted to Aspen, of course, who have high net worth and who also appreciate conservation.”
He noted Pitkin County’s Growth Management Quota System and stringent land use process as something a potential future buyer would need to understand before a sale.
The property falls within the county’s R-30 zone district, he said, which is “intended to provide areas for suburban density, single-family, and duplex,” though it would also require designation in the Pitkin County Comprehensive Plan.
“While that zoning is a start, we quite understand just because of (GMQS) and everything else, that will not be the density that will occur on that property.” he said.
Maintaining an agricultural presence on the land is a major priority for Mirr and the monks, he said.
“We try to keep working lands working because there’s a value to working landscapes — and not just turning them over and letting these become wild either,” he said. “My hope is to see somebody who buys this will continue to work agriculturally.”
Pitkin County Open Space and Trails recently acquired the 650-acre Snowmass Falls Ranch for $34 million, which nearly exhausted OST’s reserves while they await potential reimbursement from the U.S. Foresr Service for at least part of the land to add to the Maroon Bells Wilderness.
Mirr said that OST is aware of the property, but their potential involvement is yet unclear.
