I-70 'Sleeper' house finally sells

Landmark from '73 Woody Allen film on market 4 years

John Rebchook, Rocky Mountain News

Thursday, June 15, 2006

What is arguably the most recognizable home in Colorado at long last has a new owner.

The clam-shaped house on Genesee Mountain that played a starring role in Woody Allen's 1973 comedy Sleeper finally was sold this week after being on the market for the past four years.

The house is highly visible as it overlooks Interstate 70, passed by thousands of drivers each day as they head to and from the mountains.

John Huggins, the economic development director for Denver, sold the home to Michael Dunahay, sources familiar with the transaction confirmed Wednesday.

Dunahay is the principal of a company called Vacation Solutions, which rents weeklong vacations over the Internet at large discounts.

However, Dunahay doesn't plan to include the house in his rental pool, according to people familiar with the deal.

Rollie Jordan, the agent who sold the home, in April appeared with Dunahay at the Western Fantasy, an annual fundraiser for the Volunteers of America.

"It's going to be (Dunahay's) personal residence," one person familiar with the deal said.

"He grew up in Denver, and he liked the home."

The person said he didn't know if Dunahay was a fan of the Sleeper movie.

Several attempts to reach him at his residence in Las Vegas were unsuccessful.

The price Dunahay paid wasn't disclosed, but those familiar with the deal said it sold for less than the asking price of $4.85 million, which already was less than half the original asking price of $10 million.

Huggins bought the home along with 15 acres in 1999 for $1.3 million. He spent much more than that on a 5,000-square-foot addition, which required dynamiting bedrock in the mountain, before putting it back on the market in 2002 for $10 million.

Late last year, Huggins sold part of the property - two 5-acre lots - for $650,000 each, or $1.3 million.

Huggins re-listed the home for $4.85 million last year, after unsuccessfully trying to sell it at auction.

Edie Marks, the area's top residential real estate broker, said she had a buyer interested in the home, but the buyer also wanted the surrounding land.

"Without all of the land attached to it, it limited the potential buying market," said Marks, of the Kentwood Co.

"It is a very interesting house. If somebody wants a landmark house, there is nothing else like it in the world. It is a very recognizable landmark. And the views had to be mind-boggling."

Huggins was the first person to occupy the home, which was designed and built by the late Charles Deaton.

Huggins primarily used the home for fundraisers and occasionally as a weekend getaway.

Deaton was proud of the home, which is also known as the Sculptured House, because Deaton - and Huggins - always considered it a work of art that could be lived in.

"People aren't angular," Deaton once said. "So why should they live in rectangles?"

rebchookj@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-892-5207