Bill Coors steered his family’s beer brand — the one “brewed with pure Rocky Mountain spring water” — into what became a national sensation in the 1970s.

Along the way, Coors gets credit for having invented the recyclable aluminum can, and he played an earlier role in the supersecret Manhattan Project. (He had supplied quantities of Coors ceramic insulators to the Oak Ridge project, for devices that separated out the bomb’s uranium isotope).

“Given his resources, Bill Coors could have lived anywhere he wanted,” said LIV Sotheby’s agent Liz Richards, about the chairman of Adolph Coors Company. “It blows me away that he chose this,” she added.

Panorama of city lights

Richards has Coors’ 3-bedroom/3-bath mid-century home on the market at $2.75 million. Eight years after taking the reins at the company down the hill in Golden, Coors built it on 2.5 forested acres on Lookout Mountain, with a panorama of Denver’s distant lights.

The price now, Richards notes, is $50,000 less than a listing on a city lot that she and her broker partner Deviree Vallejo sold this past month in Denver‘s Hilltop neighborhood.

That’s despite the fact that the Coors property includes a “tennis cathedral,” the beer magnate added in 1972 for his second wife, Phyllis. Richards said Coors spared no expense in trucking chapel-like ceiling beams to the site, and she has an estimate showing its replacement cost at $5 million. That’s just for the tennis pavilion and a guest apartment — not counting the main house, a cookhouse, and another guest cottage on the property.      

Richards’ seller Chip Creager, who had bought the home from the couple’s son Scott Coors, said the plan shows mid-century modern hallmarks but reflects down-to-earth tastes. The main house is sized at 2,536 square feet finished plus some below-grade space, with mid-mod styled entertaining areas illuminated by large windows and a clerestory above. The bedrooms all have floor-to-ceiling windows, and each offers the city view.

Some features, Creager adds, reflect a 1970s vibe, including a rock fireplace in the living room with a wet bar, and a “crazy oversized” four-car garage. Creager and his wife did a recent remodel to update the kitchen with Wolf and Sub-Zero appliances, added new doors and Pella windows, and carried out a makeover of the flagstone patio.

With its forested setting, “it’s very quiet,” said Richards. During one recent showing, she counted 40 elk on the front lawn. The commute into downtown Denver shows as 20 minutes.

“It’s a unique property that’s turnkey,” Richards noted.

In a market where agents say that the slightly higher rates are tempering sales, Richards said the luxury price range is less affected.

“The market is stronger than last year, and sellers and buyers are both more reasonable,” she said.

Ready for move-in

“If someone bought in 2021 or 2023 and think they’re going to sell for a profit, the answer is no, unless they got an exceptional buy or did a major improvement.”

Richards adds that having a product ready to move into is important now. “People don’t want a bunch of projects,” she said.

BY APPOINTMENT ONLY

WHERE: 21967 Mountsfield Drive, Golden; take I-70 west past C-470 3 miles to Exit 256, Lookout Mountain, angle right to frontage road, turn west a block to Paradise Road. Take Paradise north 1/3 mile to Charros Drive, continue north a half mile to Lookout Mountain Road, turn right a half mile to Mountsfield

SIZE: 3 bed/4 bath, 2,536 square feet plus 2 beds/2baths in tennis cathedral & guest house. 

PRICE: $2.75 million 

WEB: TheElevatedLivingGroup.com

OPEN:  By appointment only 

AGENT: Liz Richards, 303-956-2962.