Let the bidding begin

Rickenbaugh penthouse condo to be sold at invitation-only auction

John Rebchook, Rocky Mountain News

Saturday, August 26, 2006

The penthouse condominium of deceased auto dealer Kent L. Rickenbaugh will be sold during an auction Tuesday. Bring an invitation and a $50,000 cashier's check.

The full-floor penthouse in the Cheesman Gardens high-rise boasts sweeping views from its 13th-floor perch.

After Rickenbaugh's children unsuccesfully tried to sell the condo on the west side of Cheesman Park for more than $2 million, they decided to auction it.

The Rickenbaugh family first began selling cars at 777 Broadway in 1944.

Rickenbaugh, his wife, Caroline, and son, Bart, were killed in a small plane crash in Douglas County in 2002.

Unlike real estate auctions of lower-priced foreclosed homes, it will not be open to either the public or the press.

"It's a very private event," Scott Kirk, of Grand Estates Auction Co. of Charlotte, N.C., said on Friday as he gave the Rocky Mountain News a tour.

Even neighbors in the luxury condo tower, which was built in 1970, will not be allowed to attend unless they are registered bidders. Security guards will turn away anyone not on the invitation list.

It is an "absolute" auction with no minimum bid, so the highest offer takes it. Buyers, however, have to pay a 7.5 percent fee, so if the winning bid was $1 million, the buyer would pay an additional $75,000.

"Absolutely, the potential exists for it to be the buy of a lifetime," Kirk said. "This is one of those cases we really have no idea what it will sell for."

He said the "big selling points will be the views and its location.

"You have 360-degree views," Kirk said. "You can see all the way to Colorado Springs to the south, and you have these magnificent views of Cheesman Park, the downtown skyline and the mountains. It's also a really big unit, with over 4,500 square feet, and it has wonderful amenities. There are more freezer doors in the kitchen than you can imagine."

Ed Jalowsky, owner of Classic Advantage Realty, normally deals with low-priced foreclosed homes.

But on Monday, he will be touring the penthouse on behalf of the owner of a local mortgage company, who is interested in buying the condo as an investment if the price pencils out.

"Basically, he wants to buy it to flip," said Jalowsky, who will also invest in the property if his buyer wins.

Jalowsky said that the property was first listed in October 2004 for $2.45 million, or $534 per square foot, and when the listing expired, it was put back on the market for $2.1 million, or $458 per square foot.

"Basically, it was just overpriced," Jalowsky said.

Recent condo sales in the building have ranged from $278 to $336 per square foot, and another penthouse in Cheesman Gardens sold early this year for $413 per square foot, he said.

Jalowsky said a savvy investor will make sure they don't overpay, but someone buying it to live in could get carried away by emotion during the bidding.

"An owner-occupant could get a great deal and just sit on it until the market catches up to what he paid," Jalowsky said.

It shouldn't take long to determine a winner.

"The auction will probably be over in about 15 minutes," Kirk said.

Cheesman Park condo at a glance

• 4,590 square feet on the 13th floor

• Three bedrooms plus an exercise room, four baths

• Four underground parking spaces

• A gourmet kitchen with a 60-inch Gaggenau cooktop, Sub-Zero refrigerator, Bosch dishwashers, granite countertops, and six Sub-Zero freezer drawers built into an island.

• To qualify for Tuesday's auction: an invitation and a $50,000 cashier's check

rebchookj@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5207