Since Powdr announced plans to sell its Eldora Mountain Resort in August, the town of Nederland has been scrambling. Could the 1,500-resident Boulder County community raise the money to buy the 680-acre ski hill just outside town boundaries? 

“When this opportunity came up, it was important for us to think about it seriously,” said Nederland Town Administration Jon Cain in a meeting with trustees on Nov. 19. 

Powdr has not disclosed a price tag for Eldora but Nederland officials estimate they would need to raise somewhere between $100 million and $200 million to buy the ski area, which opened in 1962 near the former mining town of Eldora. Arapahoe Basin, which is twice as large as Eldora, sold last week to Alterra Mountain Co. for $105 million.

That’s a big bite for a small town. 

Nederland officials have yet to formulate a financial analysis of a potential bid and the cost of operating a ski resort but they are in contact with Powdr and hope to make the second round of bidding that will allow the town to review the resort’s financials. A source with an investor group interested in acquiring Eldora told The Colorado Sun that Powdr rejected their initial bid below $100 million and the group did not advance to the next stage of review. A Powdr spokeswoman declined to comment on the sale process. 

Read more from Jason Blevins at ColoradoSun.com.

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