OURAY COUNTY – One of Ouray County’s premier ranching properties exchanged hands last month in a deal worth over $16 million.

Chimney Peak Ranch, a 2,665 acre property in the Cow Creek/Owl Creek Pass area, was listed with Lone Eagle Land Brokerage for $19,500,000. In a transaction that closed on Sept. 12, 2012, the property sold for $16,330,000 according to the Ouray County Clerk’s online records.

As described in its listing with Lone Eagle Land Brokerage, the property consists of a historic cattle ranch on 2,664 deeded acres with a 25,798 acre BLM and US Forest Service lease near the scenic flanks of the Cimarron Range.

New owners John and Jeanette Staluppi are from North Palm Beach, Florida. They acquired the property under the auspices of J.S. Chimney Peak Ranch, LLC, a Colorado Limited Liability Company formed on Aug. 20, 2012

Former owners Tom and Sylvia Cusick bought the ranch in 2003 through their Texas Limited partnership 7 C’s Ranch, LTD for about $13 million.

The Staluppis are in the car dealership business, according to Chimney Peak Ranch manager Don Latham. “They have been looking for a ranch for six years all over the West, and fell in love with Chimney Peak the first time they came in,” Latham said.

The ranch dates back to the late 1800s. Like most in the valley, it originally consisted of smaller parcels that over the years consolidated.

The Staluppis will “absolutely be a great part of the community,” Latham said, but do not plan to live on the ranch full-time. They will retain Latham and other ranch employees, and will continue running cattle on the place. The ranch is permitted to run just over 500 head of mother cows.

“They bought it for what it is,” Latham said. “They don’t want to change that.”

According to the Ouray County Treasurer’s Office, transactions of such magnitude are rare in Ouray County. Lone Eagle Land Brokerage Realtor Joseph Burns said that the sale was done quietly and was not on the active ranch market.

“It is a big number, but a pretty special ranch,” Burns said. “It is as special as it is rare.”

The fact that the ranch sold for a healthy price in a depressed real estate market is “a testament to how good the property is,” he said.

Burns, whose brokerage specializes in elite recreational ranch properties, said he has two other multimillion dollar contracts in the works, one in Montrose County and another in Hinsdale County.

“We are starting to see recreational properties that are selling again,” he noted. “I think the values are down and four years ago Chimney Peak would have brought $6 million or $7 million more. To me, it was a low number; it is that quality of ranch.”

Interestingly, Burns noted, the 2012 presidential election seems to be playing into the decision-making of some of his wealthy clients, who are “concerned about the production of the country.”

Just prior to the sale of Chimney Peak Ranch, in a public hearing on Sept. 11, the Ouray County Board of Commissioners moved to abandon two historic roads in the area in response to an application from Chimney Peak Ranch and neighboring J Bar M Ranch. As reported in the Sept. 13 issue of The Watch, the petitioners were asking for the entirety of a short spur called CR 8C and a longer portion of old CR 8. Both roads were described as “completely internal” to the private-land ranches.

Latham confirmed that the request was in response to liability concerns of the new owners in the pending sale. “The old county road went right through the ranch and was never vacated,” he said. “No one has ever contested it. It has no purpose as public access; it goes nowhere except the ranch property.”