Nordic center owners in Colorado mountains looking for local-minded buyers to take over: "We are not looking for the corporate buy out"
Take a moment and imagine a couple nearing retirement age, who live, work, and breathe Leadville. Without trying, you've just conjured up Ty and Roxanne Hall, the owners of the Tennessee Pass Nordic Center, Cookhouse, and Sleep Yurts -- but not for much longer, if they get their way.
"It has been an amazing and awesome run but it is maybe time to let someone else have the reigns," Ty said Sunday morning, looking a bit wistful.
The couple have spent the last 30 years building up the lodge, cross-country ski/snowshoe/fat bike rentals, glamping, and picturesque restaurant just outside of Ski Cooper. Taking the business from a single part-time employee to 34 employees, sometimes just surviving off of Roxanne's art teacher salary, and plenty of early morning maintenance calls, the pair have put their blood, sweat, and tears into the center and cookhouse.
The business is doing well, but the money is not the focus for the pair, and that's their stipulation for the next owners too; be community-minded.
"I would love to find the next younger version of Ty and Roxanne," Ty said laughing. "Someone is going to come and do their own thing with it, they may change a few things might do things differently, might have a better vision than we have with it right now...but I think it is super important to find those people that are going to be community-minded."
What exactly does that mean?
"To try to continue to support the kids' programs, the Nordic skiing," Ty explained. "We want people to stay employed here, keep 'em going, want to keep the jobs going in our town, all that kind of stuff. It is super important to us."
The couple has already had plenty of talks with potential buyers, but they have not been what they are looking for.
"We are not looking for the corporate buyout," Ty said, frankly. "We are not looking for the corporate sell, that has disqualified it (the buyer) to be honest, we have had some investment groups say 'Hey we want to come out and do this,' and we politely stopped responding to 'em, we want to take our time and make sure the right people who can keep the similar feel and vibe going."
Should they find their perfect buyer, they want the new owners to know they're not going to leave them in the dust without any help. Quite the opposite in fact.
"I am not going anywhere," Roxanne said, laughing. "This is home for me!"
The pair said they would likely help with whatever level of support the buyer was interested in, and certainly would be around a lot to ski and visit friends, but did not want the new owners to feel like they didn't have full control either.
"We don't want them to feel like we're looking over their shoulders," Ty said laughing. "We're here for you, we are going to come skiing, but otherwise you got it."
Interested in contacting the couple about the property? You can reach out to their realtor here.
