NEDERLAND, Colo. — The quirky mountain town of Nederland is officially buying the nearby Eldora Mountain Resort, the town announced on Tuesday.
In its announcement, the town says the deal could close as early as October of this year, a month before it plans to open for the 2025-26 ski season. The resort will remain on Ikon Pass.
When Denver7 talked to Nederland town administrator Jonathan Cain late last year, he called the Eldora acquisition a “moonshot.” The two sides entered into a confidentiality agreement weeks later, and now the dream is a reality as the term sheet was signed Tuesday.
Eldora is currently owned by the Utah-based recreation company POWDR, which will remain in charge of the mountain under a two-year agreement. In the meantime, Nederland is partnering with a Front Range ski coalition called 303 Ski, which has already been involved in Nederland’s pursuit of the resort and will manage it once the contract with POWDR expires.
All Eldora employees will become Nederland employees, adding about 700 employees to the town staff. Nederland says it will also appoint a new deputy town manager to “interface between the mountain and the town government.”
The purchase price is not yet known and the town says it will remain confidential, but that it plans to buy Eldora without using local tax dollars. Instead, it will borrow money through a special kind of loan called revenue bonds, which will be repaid using money the resort earns – which the city says will cover the loan payments since Eldora is already profitable.
Nederland’s governing body, its board of trustees, will approve a “not-to-exceed” amount to establish a maximum debt the town can assume.
The town also says it will seek support from state or federal grants, as well as private money.
Nederland has posted a number of other FAQs about the deal on its website. Check those out here.
FROM THE ARCHIVE: "The Great Snowstorm" hits Eldora
Denver7 reached out to POWDR for its response to the sale announcement, and a spokesperson shared the same statement the organization released when Eldora was put up for sale:
To strategically manage POWDR’s portfolio in alignment with our founder’s and stakeholders’ goals, we aim to balance our ski business with new ventures in the National Parks sector and Woodward. Over the coming weeks, we will list three of our ski resorts—Eldora, Mt. Bachelor, and SilverStar—for sale, with JP Morgan Chase managing the process. Until the sales of these four resorts (including Killington) are finalized, we will remain dedicated to our current operations at those ski resorts, plus Copper and Snowbird which we are retaining, Woodward camps and mountain centers, and our two National Park concessions contracts. In addition, we are committed to a seamless transition at all four resorts.
