NEDERLAND, Colo. — The quirky mountain town of Nederland is home to only about 1,500 people, but the small community is making a big purchase.
Town officials announced this week they are in the process of buying the Eldora Mountain Resort, which is just a few miles down the road.
Mountains
Nederland is buying Eldora Mountain Resort. Here’s how the town says it’ll work.
The current owner, Utah-based POWDR, announced the ski area was for sale last summer. Nederland will now partner with 303 Ski, a team of Front Range ski industry veterans, to help with the transition.
Last fall, after the town publicly acknowledged interest in buying Eldora, the Scripps News Group asked town administrator Jonathan Cain about how feasible that plan was.
"It's a moonshot," he said in November 2024. "And I think in government, when you have an opportunity to take a moonshot, you have to look at it, and you have to explore it. We haven't found a reason to say 'no,' yet. We keep just finding reasons to say 'yes.'"
- Watch more from our November 2024 interview with town administrator Jonathan Cain in the video player below
The Scripps News Group went up to Nederland on Thursday to hear from the community, which has a deep connection with Eldora. Most seem cautiously optimistic about the town taking over its operations.
“I think it's awesome,” said Deb D’Andrea, a Nederland resident. “I think it's going to be great for the town... We're not going to become Aspen. Our goal is to continue to keep Ned Ned and our personality.”
“I think that the revenue that it could bring into town and things like that is really great,” said Andrew Samis, a Nederland resident and former Eldora employee who now works for the town’s Public Works Department. “But also, the fact that it's not like a corporate-owned thing, and it can be a town thing, is also something I was looking forward to as well.”
The town has announced some details, including a two-year transition period where POWDR maintains control of the mountain. The resort will stay on the Ikon Pass, and Eldora’s roughly 700 employees will become town employees.
The town did not disclose the price tag, which is estimated to be at least $100 million, to be paid off by taking on debt rather than raising taxes. The debt will be financed through revenue bonds tied to money the resort earns.
When Denver7 asked town officials for an interview, they declined because of a non-disclosure agreement in place as the sale goes through. That’s also why they did not answer questions at a town meeting Thursday night, but they did listen to the community’s remaining concerns.
Several speakers at the town’s community center asked about the high price tag of the sale, the practicality of the bond financing, the potential budget fallout if the resort suffers through bad seasons, and the need to improve infrastructure and transportation options, among others.
“Maybe at some point in time, this will make such a profit that the town breaks even or makes money off of it,” one resident said. “However, if that's not the case, we are on the hook.”
While the finances are figured out, the town already has plans for the resort, like opening it up for summers "in the near future."
“If they open it to mountain biking and hiking from Eldora, they have a huge parking area that sits there empty all summer,” said Nederland resident John Thompson, who owns a bike shop in town. “I think it's a gamble, but it's a great gamble.”
The town with a unique character is betting big on itself. Nederland officials said the deal could close as soon as October.
