Suzi Apple's Vail Valley Development Series

PROPERTY | Cordillera Valley Club

In 1996, my business partner, George Sanders, became a 50% owner of a 1,000-plus-acre ranch with extraordinary potential. If Location, Location, Location is the mantra, this land had it all. The property was strategically located, just one mile west of the Edwards exit and truly minutes to Vail, Beaver Creek, and Arrowhead. Backing up to the Forest Service to the north, the ranch land had a highly desirable southern exposure, massive views east of the Back Bowls of Vail and Arrowhead Mountain, as well as views south to Lake Creek and the Sawatch Mountain Range. Rarely do you have an opportunity to plan an entire neighborhood, so we took this very seriously, realizing it may never happen again.

Initially, we named our new neighborhood Wildhorse, but unfortunately, when it was sold to Cordillera, they renamed it Cordillera Valley Club (CVC). Our first course of action was to select the golf course architect, and the highly acclaimed Tom Fazio was soon hired. Land planning is also a key element in successful development, and we spent hours walking the proposed homesites and ultimately came up with 128 SF lots. Our first offering of 60 sold out in two weeks! We think we succeeded because we made the roads private and added manned security gates. The private roads gave us freedom from many county and government rules and regulations, and allowed us to use golf carts. Thus, it became the first golf-in/golf-out neighborhood in the entire Vail Valley. To this day, homes in CVC, because of their views, privacy, and location, are among the most sought-after estates in the entire Vail Valley.