Tom Chapman is the notorious developer who's talking about building a ski area off the backside of Telluride, and as the website for a group of 12 properties in the remote Colorado wilderness between Aspen and Vail, his marketing spiels take on every unabashed angle. Rich hunter or angler with your own helicopter? Recluse with excellent horsemanship and navigational skills? Angry libertarian who wants to game the feds and environmentalists when you threaten to build a mansion on pristine marshland and laugh in their faces while you count the cash you goaded them into paying you? Chapman believes these private in-holdingssurrounded by remote and mostly roadless wilderness are perfect for this group of "non-traditional clients. He would also encourage patriotic property rights advocates to take the litigation for the construction of their private hunting cabin all the way to the Supreme Court. Fans of eminent domain need not inquire.
Chapman's selling the twelve parcels in the Holy Cross Wilderness as a bundle for $550,000, $200K off his original offer, and claims that based on the appraisals of neighboring properties that have been put into conservation easements, the potential value of all 109 acres is around $12,000,000. That being said, you'd have to show at least as much talent as Mr. Chapman in fearlessly confronting conservation groups to get that kind of value. There's also, you know, bears and stuff out there, and no one around the plow your driveway to nowhere.
· The TDX Wilderness Package