Buckhorn Ranch project strikes a careful balance

MASONVILLE – The new shape of rural residential development is about to become visible southwest of Fort Collins on the 1,600-acre Buckhorn Ranch, a mountain hideaway just west of the tiny town of Masonville.

Denver developer Chuck Wahlen, who has made a career of purchasing large tracts of rural land for low-density residential projects, is aiming for the high end of the market with 50 lots, averaging about three acres each, strung along the valley formed by Buckhorn Creek.

By taking the project through Larimer County’s Rural Land Use Process, a framework the county adopted to balance development and preservation in environmentally sensitive areas, Wahlen has retained much of the agricultural character of the property while giving way to homeowners.

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“From that location you can’t see any other development,” Wahlen said. “Every single lot in this development backs up to open space.”

Buckhorn Ranch is hardly bargain-priced. Starting at $185,000 for a 2.1-acre lot on the valley floor, the prices escalate to $385,000 for lots perched on a hillside with sweeping westward views. Home prices likely will follow the same pattern, Wahlen said.

“I don’t see anyone building for less than $950,000, and I’m guessing some will be around $4.5 million,” he said.

Rural Land Use Center Director Jim Reidhead and his staff guided Wahlen through the development process beginning in 2000, with final approval granted in 2002. The development process is an alternative to unrestricted 35-acre subdivisions, parcels Reidhead described as “too big to mow and too small to farm.”

In the five years since approval was granted, Wahlen has waited for the market to emerge while carefully constructing roads and adding utilities to the development.

Reidhead said developments under the rural land use process were more than likely to sit idle for a few years, unlike urban subdivisions where builders move in within hours after final plats are approved.

“It’s really curious,” he said. “I’ve got statistics showing that people who come through this process are not in any hurry to develop.”

Between 1996 and 2006, the county approved 528 home sites under the plan, but 354 of them remain vacant.

Wahlen said the market had emerged for Buckhorn Ranch without a single step toward marketing the home sites.

“Without any advertising, I’ve got nine commitments so far,” he said. “I think I’ll be sold out in less than a year.”

Wahlen paid longtime Buckhorn Valley rancher Aaron Friend $6.1 million for the 1,600-acre ranch in 1999. An average lot price of $230,000 will net $11.5 million for the 50-lot subdivision and, assuming infrastructure costs of about $30,000 per home site, Wahlen will realize a profit of nearly $4 million for the venture.

What homeowners get for their money is an atmosphere of isolation within a short drive of either Fort Collins or Loveland.

“It’s 12 miles from Buckhorn Ranch to the intersection of Harmony and College,” Wahlen said. “In that distance, you go from total nirvana to wall-to-wall houses.”