A Carbondale golf club is on the verge of changing ownership, according to an official.
River Valley Ranch (RVR), an 18-hole championship public course built east of Highway 133 in 1998, is currently listed online for sale at $24.5 million by a real estate agency based in Greater Northdale, Florida, called Leisure Investment Properties Group. If the full asking price is agreed upon, the course value will have increased by seven times since its last purchase price.
Garfield County records show that Crystal Outdoors LLC, managed by Dan Coleman, purchased RVR Golf for $3.5 million in 2018 from River Valley Ranch Golf LLC, managed by Dale Rands. Rands purchased the course in 2012 from the Crown family, owners of Aspen Skiing Company, for $1.2 million.
Stephen VanDyke, PGA Proprietor at RVR Golf and Homestead Grill, has not yet disclosed the new prospective buyers’ names or whether the actual sales price for the course is up for negotiation.
“The sale is still pending, and the buyers are choosing not to comment at this time,” he said in an email to The Sopris Sun in early June.
There has yet to be a new sales transaction and price listed online by the Garfield County assessor. The Sopris Sun could not reach Coleman or VanDyke for further comment on this story, and it’s unclear why the course is being sold.
In July 2018, Rands had reported to the RVR Homeowners Association that the course was in financial distress and was subject to close down if it didn’t sell, according to previous reporting by the Glenwood Springs Post Independent. Since the club is open to the public but privately owned and operated, Rands tried unsuccessfully to get the Town of Carbondale to rezone part of the course to allow residential development.
RVR Golf itself is part of a greater property annexed to the Town of Carbondale in June 1994, according to the RVR Master Association Board. As a planned unit development, there are 542 home sites built on the 520-acre property.
The Sopris Sun has also reached out for comment to the RVR Homeowners Association and David Myler, who was a Basalt-based attorney representing the transaction when Coleman purchased RVR Golf in 2018.
The Sopris Sun will provide further updates to this story when available.