Top five most-read stories last week

Stories in this list received the most page views on aspentimes.com from September 1-8.

1. Details released surrounding Aspen’s Castle Creek Road bike death 

A 64-year-old woman was involved in a bicycle accident on Castle Creek Road that resulted in her death on Monday. 

Michelle Mulrooney Jackoway, an attorney who split time between Pitkin County and Beverly Hills, California, was biking back from lunch at Pine Creek Cookhouse on an electric bike when she lost control of her bike and crashed into the embankment on the side of the road, according to Sheriff Michael Buglione with the Pitkin County Sheriff’s Office. Jackoway was riding with a group.

“It was a tragic accident,” Buglione said. 

-Colin Suszynski 

2.Colorado sellers are pulling homes off the market-what happens to them next?

In Colorado’s Western Slope, where listings are plenty and buyers are few, some homeowners are pulling their listings off the market ahead of the winter season and turning to the rental market as they wait for market conditions to improve, real estate experts say.

Sellers across the U.S. are taking their homes off the market as listings turn “stale,” according to an August Redfin report, partially thanks to a disappointing turnout from buyers.

In parts of Colorado’s Western Slope, active residential listings are back to prepandemic levels thanks to significant increases over the last several months. Sales, however, have not caught up — leading some homes to expire off the market or be withdrawn by the seller.

-Andrea Teres-Martinez 

3. Most expensive house for sale in America hits Aspen market 

The most expensive house for sale in the country hit the housing market in Aspen last week, a 74.1 acre property listed at $300,000,000.

The property’s residence, referred to as the Little Lake Lodge, has 18 bedrooms, 20 full bathrooms, and four partial bathrooms. It was built by California billionaires Stewart and Lynda Resnick, who co-own The Wonderful Company and founded the Aspen Institute’s Resnick Center for Herbert Bayer Studies. The Resnicks bought the property, located at 161 Stillwater Road off Highway 82 heading toward Independence Pass, from the Benedict family. 

“It’s a legacy property,” said Brenda Wild, broker and owner of Aspen’s Berkshire Hathaway Home Services Signature Properties and the Aspen Chamber Resort Association’s real estate representative. “A parcel that size next to downtown Aspen is just unprecedented.”

-River Stingray 

4. Update: Road open after bike accident closes Castle Creek Road 

Update 5:30 p.m.: Castle Creek Road is now open again at mile marker 6.

Castle Creek Road will be closed around mile marker 6 following a bike accident, PitkinAlert announced at 2:54 p.m. Monday.

-Staff report 

5. Pitkin County removing Colorado Highway 82 crossover near Aspen

Pitkin County, in coordination with the Colorado Department of Transportation, will be removing the Cozy Point crossover on Colorado Highway 82 this weekend to improve traffic safety and operations in anticipation of a larger intersection reconstruction in the coming years.

In the middle of “one of the busiest and most complex stretches of the highway,” as a press release calls it, the Cozy Point crossover between up- and down-valley lanes near Smith Way has seen increased makeshift “Michigan Lefts” this summer. These traffic maneuvers — where a driver traditionally turns right at an intersection, then makes a U-turn at a median crossover to then complete a left turn to head back in the original but opposite direction — have caused congestion and increased collision risk during peak morning hours.

-River Stingray