Ritz at Bachelor going condo-hotel

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Julie Dunn

The Ritz-Carlton, Bachelor Gulch is converting 120 of its 237 guest rooms into 50 wholly owned condominiums, making it the latest high-end mountain property to announce a condo-hotel conversion.

"The demand for new ownership opportunities in Bachelor Gulch is just immense, so we felt it was a great time to bring it to market," said Steven Holt, director of public relations at the property, which is at the Beaver Creek ski area.

The Ritz-Carlton Residential Suites will range in size from 430 square feet for a studio unit to 1,383 square feet for a two-bedroom model. The condos will go on sale July 27, with prices from $720,000 to $2.96 million. Slifer Smith & Frampton Real Estate is the listing broker.

Other similar projects are also in the works. Last month, Florida developer SunVest Communities USA announced plans to invest $20 million to turn the Club Med resort in Mount Crested Butte into a condo hotel.

In May, the Park Hyatt Beaver Creek announced it would undergo a $20 million renovation, including the conversion of 54 hotel rooms into 15 fractional-ownership units.

The 1/20-share condominiums range in price from $80,000 to $220,000.

"It's a good way to get some significant dollars out of an existing hotel," said John Montgomery, a hotel consultant with Horwath Horizon in Denver.

The Ritz-Carlton's two-phase conversion project began in April and is expected to be completed by July 2007.

Owners will have access to all of the hotel's amenities, including twice-daily housekeeping service and valet parking. They can place their units in a rental pool when they're not using them.

There is some risk to condo-hotel conversions, said Montgomery, because "some of the units will go into the rental pool, but some will sit empty, which is dead real estate for the community."

He said, "Resort areas like to see new bodies in their beds every night, because those are the people who are out skiing and shopping." Holt expects a majority of the condos to be put into the rental pool.

The AAA Five Diamond-rated Ritz-Carlton, Bachelor Gulch opened in November 2002 and cost $162 million to build. Miami-based Gencom Group bought majority ownership of the property from Vail Resorts Inc. in 2004.